Spatial impairment early sign of Alzheimer’s

  • A cognitive test has been shown to identify early shrinking of the brain region first affected by Alzheimer's.

A Canadian study involving 40 older adults (59-81), none of whom were aware of any major memory problems, has found that those scoring below 26 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) dementia screening test also showed shrinking of the anterolateral entorhinal cortex. This brain region is the first affected in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The study found specifically that this area of the brain is involved in configural processing — that is, processing the spatial arrangement of an object's elements. Accordingly, this task provides a very early indicator of developing Alzheimer's.

You can do a preliminary assessment of your memory using Baycrest's scientifically-validated, online brain health assessment tool, Cogniciti at http://www.cogniciti.com.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/bcfg-dbc051117.php

Reference: 

[4265] Olsen, R. K., Yeung L. - K., Noly-Gandon A., D’Angelo M. C., Kacollja A., Smith V. M., et al.
(Submitted).  Human anterolateral entorhinal cortex volumes are associated with cognitive decline in aging prior to clinical diagnosis.
Neurobiology of Aging.

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