Visuospatial function in early Alzheimer's disease: Preliminary study

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia, accounting for 55% of all cases. AD patients gradually lose functional capacity, manifesting deficits in attention, language, temporal and direction orientation, mood, socialization and visuospatial function. The visuospatial function entails identification of a stimulus and its location. AD patients can present deficits in visuo-spatial skills during initial stages of the disease, but in the course of clinical evolution this function can become severely impaired. One of the neuropsychological tests indicated to evaluate the visuospatial function is the VOSP (The Visual Object and Space Perception Battery).ObjectivesThe aim of this preliminary study was to detect visuospatial dysfunction in early AD patients using the VOSP, and assess its sensitivity in a Brazilian sample.ResultsControls outperformed AD patients on all neuropsychological evaluations, except the Corsi block tapping task and cancellation task-errors. The AD patients performed significantly worse on all object perception and two space perception (Number Location and Cube Analyses) subtests of the VOSP.ConclusionThe AD patients demonstrated impaired visuospatial function in several aspects. The subtests of the VOSP were found to be sensitive for detecting this impairment in mild cases.

Study of visuospatial skill in patients with dementia

“…We selected age, sex, and education matched dementia and control groups to nullify their possible influence on VOSP performance. Akin to many previous studies,[ 15 16 ] our AD patients performed poorly as compared to controls on all eight subtests (four object perception and four space perception) of VOSP.…”

Decreased Cognitive Function in Extended Family Members from the Single Late-Onset-Alzheimer's-Disease Pedigree

“…The neurocognitive measures included in the study were selected to comprehensively assess those neurocognitive domains found to be sensitive to and detect early cognitive changes related to AD, before the functional difficulties required for a diagnosis (Gladsjo et al, 1999; Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009; Wechsler, 1987; Weintraub et al, 2012; Werheid et al, 2002). Thus, this study provided a unique opportunity for future studies to longitudinally trace the progression across familial pedigrees.…”

“…Semantic fluency was assessed by asking participants to name exemplars of two semantic categories (animals, vegetables) in separate 1-min trials (Wilson & Bennett, 2005). The Clock Drawing Task (Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009; Nair et al, 2010) was used to evaluate visuospatial ability. Specifically, the participants were instructed to draw a clock face displaying the time 2:45 (Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009).…”

“…The Clock Drawing Task (Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009; Nair et al, 2010) was used to evaluate visuospatial ability. Specifically, the participants were instructed to draw a clock face displaying the time 2:45 (Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009). Prior investigations (Gladsjo et al, 1999, Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009; Wechsler, 1987; Werheid et al, 2002) found these neurocognitive measures to have adequate psychometric properties.…”

“…Specifically, the participants were instructed to draw a clock face displaying the time 2:45 (Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009). Prior investigations (Gladsjo et al, 1999, Quental, Brucki, & Bueno, 2009; Wechsler, 1987; Werheid et al, 2002) found these neurocognitive measures to have adequate psychometric properties. Moreover, Wilson and Bennett (2005) found that change in performance on these measures has been associated with a genetic risk factor for AD.…”