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. 2024 Feb;20(2):759-768.
doi: 10.1002/alz.13478. Epub 2023 Sep 29.

Visual search in Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment: An eye-tracking study

Hatice Eraslan Boz  1   2 , Koray Koçoğlu  1 , Müge Akkoyun  1 , Işıl Yağmur Tüfekci  1 , Merve Ekin  1 , Gülden Akdal  1   3
Affiliations

Visual search in Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment: An eye-tracking study

Hatice Eraslan Boz et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: Visual search impairment is a potential cognitive marker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The aim of this study is to compare eye movements during visual tracking in AD and aMCI patients versus healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: A prospective cohort study included 32 AD and 37 aMCI patients, and 33 HCs. Each participant was asked to look at the target object in a visual stimulus containing one target and eight distractors, and eye movements were recorded with EyeLink 1000 Plus.

Results: AD patients had fewer fixations and shorter target fixation duration than aMCI patients and HCs. Fixation durations were also shorter in aMCI patients compared to HCs. Also, AD patients were more fixated on distractors than HCs.

Discussion: Our findings revealed that visual search is impaired in the early stages of AD and even aMCI, highlighting the importance of addressing visual processes in the Alzheimer's continuum.

Highlights: AD patients looked to distractors more and longer than the target compared to aMCI patients and older healthy individuals. aMCI patients had an impaired visual search pattern compared to healthy controls, just like patients with AD. The visual search task differentiated AD and aMCI patients from healthy individuals without dementia.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; amnestic mild cognitive impairment; finding objects; visual attention; visual search.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. Author disclosures are available in the supporting information.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The color photographs used in this study are shown on the left and the visual search paradigms are on the right. The paradigms, created by taking nine pieces from each photograph, contain only one piece with a car image.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The fixation mark was presented for 1000 ms followed by the stimulus for 3000 ms in trials. A grey background was displayed for 2000 ms between trials.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The fixation counts (left) and fixation durations (right) on the target and distractors for the three groups. AD, Altzheimer's disease; aMCI, amnestic mild cognitive impairment; HC, health control.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The frequency of fixation durations of the HC, aMCI, and AD groups in the visual search paradigm. Red indicates the areas with the longest fixation, and green shows the areas with the shortest fixation. The heatmap was created by combining the fixations of the groups in Data Viewer software. AD, Altzheimer's disease; aMCI, amnestic mild cognitive impairment; HC, health control.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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