We investigated the effect of recent intake of caffeine-containing foodstuffs (CCFS) on a group of elderly participants (age range 67–95 years) on a series of neuropsychological tests. There was no significant effect of CCFS intake on performance in any of the tests in the battery used. However, a significant interaction effect was found between age and CCFS consumption on scores of some neuropsychological tests. In these tests, participants with recent consumption of CCFS show a linear decrease in performance with increasing age, a pattern not seen for those that have no CCFS in their system. Accuracy in the neuropsychological assessment is of great importance when determining whether someone has a cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease. We therefore propose that recent consumption of CCFS should be taken into account when scoring the neuropsychological assessment.

No abstract

Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is essential if treatments are to be administered at an earlier point in time before neurons degenerate to a stage beyond repair. In order for early detection to occur tools used to detect the disorder must be sensitive to the earliest of cognitive impairments. Virtual reality (VR) technology offers opportunities to provide products which attempt to mimic daily life situations, as much as is possible, within the computational environment. This may be useful for the detection of cognitive difficulties. We develop a virtual simulation designed to assess visuospatial memory in order to investigate cognitive function in a group of healthy elderly participants and those with a mild cognitive impairment. Participants were required to guide themselves along a virtual path to reach a virtual destination which they were required to remember. The preliminary results indicate that this virtual simulation has the potential to be used for detection of early AD since significant correlations of scores on the virtual environment with existing neuropsychological tests were found. Furthermore, the test discriminated between healthy elderly participants and those with a mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

A study was performed involving phonological priming and tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) in which participants took either 200 mg of caffeine or placebo. Results show a clear positive priming effect produced for the caffeine group when primed with phonologically related words. When primed with unrelated words, the caffeine subgroup produced a significant increase in the number of TOTs. This contrasting effect provides evidence that the positive priming of caffeine was not a result of caffeine's well-known alertness effects. For placebo, a significant negative effect occurred with the related-word priming condition. The results support the novel hypothesis that the blocking of A, adenosine receptors by caffeine induces an increased short-term plasticity effect within the phonological retrieval system.

No abstract

We report that performance on neuropsychological tests used in the diagnosis of dementia can be influenced by external factors such as time of day (TOD) and caffeine. This study investigates TOD effects on cognitive performance in the elderly. The optimal TOD at which an individual is at their maximal arousal alters with age and in the elderly typically occurs in the morning. Neuropsychological test scores from healthy elderly participants were analysed to determine whether TOD affected performance. Interactions between caffeine and TOD were also investigated. Across two data sets that were analysed, significant TOD effects were noted for Pattern Comparison Speed (PCS), Letter Comparison Speed (LCS), Trail Making Test Part A, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Graded NamingTest (GNT), revealing a decline in test scores as TOD increases. Significant interactions between TOD, age and the PCS, LCS and Trail Making part A were noted in data set one. In data set two, where caffeine intake had been controlled for, significant interactions between caffeine, TOD and scores on the MMSE and GNT were found. The TOD and caffeine effects highlight the need to control for these external factors when scoring the assessments. This conclusion has implications for the clinical procedure of diagnosis and treatment of dementia and Alzheimer's.

No abstract

Dementia is a serious, progressive, and often debilitating illness with no known cure, having a severe adverse effect on memory, behaviour, reasoning, and communication. A comprehensive review of current refereed research material in the use of games in this area is scarce and suffers from being orientated towards commercially available games or derivatives such as “Dr. Kawashima’s brain training.” There is much lesser concern for bespoke research grade alternatives. This review will attempt to assess the current state of the art in research orientated games for dementia, importantly identifying systems capable of prediction before the onset of the disease. It can be ascertained from the literature reviewed that there are clearly a large number of interactive computer game based mechanisms used for dementia. However, these are each highly intrusive in terms of affecting normal living and the patient is aware of being tested; furthermore their long-term or real benefits are unknown as is their effect over conventional tests. It is important to predict cognitive impairment at a stage early enough to maximise benefit from treatment and therapeutic intervention. Considering the availability, use, and increasing power of modern mobile smartphones, it is logically plausible to explore this platform for dementia healthcare.