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P1‐356: Virtual Reality as an Assessment of Social Cognition in Behavioural Variant Frontotemporal Dementia: A Pilot Study.
Author(s) -
Brotherhood Emilie,
Drummond Jason,
Russell Lucy,
Primativo Silvia,
Hardy Chris J.D.,
Steed Anthony,
Slater Mel,
Rohrer Jonathan D.,
Warren Jason D.,
Crutch Sebastian J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2016.06.1107
Subject(s) - psychology , frontotemporal dementia , cognition , virtual reality , dementia , cognitive psychology , social cognition , optimal distinctiveness theory , neuropsychology , gaze , developmental psychology , social psychology , disease , human–computer interaction , computer science , medicine , pathology , neuroscience , psychoanalysis
rate very early in the course of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This may lead to recruitment of compensatory cognitive strategies. The aim was to examine differences in spatial navigation strategies (hippocampus-driven––allocentric vs. hippocampusindependent––egocentric) between cognitively normal older adults and individuals in early clinical stages of AD. Methods: Participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) due to AD (n1⁄416) with high (25%) and intermediate (75%) biomarker probability of AD etiology, participants with mild probable AD dementia (n1⁄412) with high (50%) and intermediate (50%) biomarker probability of AD etiology, and cognitively normal older adults (n1⁄433) were tested on a virtual Ymaze strategy assessment (vYSA). Participants completed five blocks of vYSA consisting of two parts––multiple training trials followed by one probe trial. In the probe trial, participants started in the location that was neither the original starting location nor the goal location. Those, who followed the same route they learned in training, were classified as using an egocentric strategy and those who moved to same absolute goal location as trained in the training trials, were classified as using an allocentric strategy. Participants (n1⁄46 aMCI due to AD, n1⁄42 mild AD dementia and n1⁄42 cognitively normal older adults) who did not use the same strategy in four or five of the five vYSA assessments were excluded from analyses. Results:Strategy selection differed as a function of diagnostic group (c1⁄48.06, p1⁄4.018). The aMCI due to AD and mild AD dementia groups overwhelmingly preferred an egocentric strategy (both groups: 90% egocentric and 10% allocentric), while the cognitively normal group showed a modest preference for egocentric strategy (52% egocentric and 48% allocentric). Strategy selection did not differ as a function of gender (c1⁄40.28, p1⁄4.869). Conclusions: Participants with aMCI due to AD and mild AD dementia overwhelmingly preferred an egocentric strategy, while cognitively normal older adults were equally distributed between egocentric and allocentric strategy preference. This overwhelming preference for egocentric navigation strategy in early-stage AD may be a consequence of functional and anatomical changes in the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe structures, and may reflect cognitive adaptation to AD-related changes.