PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Spatial inhibition of return is impaired in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's disease.

  • Xiong Jiang,
  • James H Howard,
  • G William Rebeck,
  • Raymond Scott Turner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252958
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 6
p. e0252958

Abstract

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Spatial inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the phenomenon by which individuals are slower to respond to stimuli appearing at a previously cued location compared to un-cued locations. Here with a group of older adults (n = 56, 58-80 (67.9±5.2) year old, 31 females, 18.7±3.6 years of education), we provide evidence supporting the notion that spatial IOR is mildly impaired in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the impairment is detectable using a double cue paradigm. Furthermore, reduced spatial IOR in high-risk healthy older individuals is associated with reduced memory and other neurocognitive task performance, suggesting that the double cue spatial IOR paradigm may be useful in detecting MCI and early AD.