Visuospatial function in early Alzheimer's disease: Preliminary study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Gerontology
• Psychology

Background:

• Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, affecting 55% of cases.
• AD progressively impairs cognitive functions, including visuospatial abilities, crucial for daily living.
• Visuospatial function involves identifying objects and their locations, often affected early in AD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate visuospatial dysfunction in early Alzheimer's disease patients.
• To assess the sensitivity of the Visual Object and Space Perception Battery (VOSP) in a Brazilian population.
• To identify specific VOSP subtests most affected in early AD.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Visual Object and Space Perception Battery (VOSP) for assessment.
• Compared performance of early Alzheimer's disease patients with control groups.
• Analyzed performance across various object and space perception subtests.

Main Results:

• Alzheimer's disease patients performed significantly worse on most VOSP subtests compared to controls.
• Specific deficits were noted in object perception and two space perception subtests (Number Location, Cube Analyses).
• Exceptions included the Corsi block tapping task and cancellation task-errors where AD patients did not perform significantly worse.

Conclusions:

• Alzheimer's disease patients exhibit significant visuospatial impairments.
• The VOSP demonstrates sensitivity in detecting visuospatial deficits even in mild Alzheimer's disease cases.
• VOSP subtests are valuable tools for early AD diagnosis and monitoring.