Inspection time in non-demented older adults with mild cognitive impairment

The aim of this study was to examine inspection time (IT) performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), who are at higher risk of developing further cognitive decline or dementia. IT is described as an index of speed of informational intake. IT correlates with measures of fluid intelligence and is possibly a marker for the integrity of the cholinergic system of the brain. IT may therefore be useful in aiding the diagnosis of early-stage progressive cognitive impairment. The current study compares IT in 28 people with MCI to 28 age, gender and education-matched controls. The computer-based, visual IT task required participants to discriminate between two visual stimuli that were presented for brief periods. Participants' IT performance was compared to their performance on cognitive and memory tasks. Group comparison showed that participants with MCI performed significantly worse on IT than controls and was not affected by years of education. In combination with other clinical, neuropsychological and biological tests, IT may be a useful assessment tool for improving the identification of older adults at risk for clinically relevant cognitive decline.