Attention and working memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has emerged as a classification for a prodromal phase of cognitive decline preceding the emergence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examined neuropsychological functioning in a sample of 60 adults with amnestic-MCI (a-MCI), 32 with subjective complaints of memory impairment (subjective-MCI, s-MCI), 14 with mild AD, and 25 age-matched controls. Both the a-MCI and s-MCI groups displayed impaired attentional processing, working memory capacity, and semantic language, with a-MCI displaying additional impairments to verbal and/or visual memory. These results indicate that further research is needed to examine cognitive decline in nonamnestic variants of MCI.