The MCS was used in the SAGE study (Successful aging and enrich- ment in persons over 65) as a complement to the experimental design of assessing various ...
ValidationofMapCogSpectra©withCANTABtestsofattentioninanelderlypopulation Background Assessment of attention in older adults (+ 65 years) by means of © MapCogSpectra (MCS)iscomparedtothe results ofthecompuͲ terized Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery a (CANTAB) .TheMCSisanewshorttest(5min),aimedtomeasure ultrashortfluctuationsinattentionbymeansofpausetimefluctuͲ ations during naming of visual stimuli. Previous tests of attention focus on various measures of reaction time and omissions and commissionsintheattentionalprocess.
Fig1.MCSversusReaction time(CANTAB)
Objective Tocomparetwotestsofattention,theMCSwiththeCANTABsubͲ testsofattention. Method TheMCSwasusedintheSAGEstudy(SuccessfulagingandenrichͲ ment in persons over 65) as a complement to the experimental design of assessing various cognitive functions at baseline. In the present study 38 healthy individuals (65Ͳ85 years) with complete records were examined in regard of the possible relationship betweenMCSandCANTABofattention. Tab1 Gender,male/female Age¹ Education¹ b SweNART¹,², CANTAB Mot¹(latency) AST¹(correcttrials) OTS¹(correctchoices)
MCS³versus 14/24 .018* 71,11(4,87) .267(.165) 13,63(3,36) .168(.313) 43,00(5,30)[31–50] .044(.795)
CANTAB IntheSAGEstudyfollowingsixsubtestsofCANTABwereusedatbaseline andfollowͲup.Thecomputerusedatouchscreenandapresspad. MotorScreening(MOT)aninitialtesttointroducethesubjecttothe computerandscreensfordifficultieswithvision,movementand comprehension.
750,12(413,01) .298(.070) 105,98(81,12) .111(.506) 15,89(2,62) .305(.063) PAL¹(correctpatterns) 34,11(42,39) .045(.795) RTI¹(reactiontime) 427,88(87,26) .100(.555) SSP¹(spanlength) 5,03(0,87) .125(.461) ¹Mean(SD),²Normalinterval[29Ͳ43]±37SD=6, ³PearsonCorrelation(pͲvalue),*StudentsTͲtest;ƉͲǀĂůƵĞͿ
AttentionSwitchingTask(AST)is atestofexecutivefunctionthat providesameasureofcued attentionalsetͲshifting. OneTouchStockingsof Cambridge(OTS)isatestof reasoningandgivesameasureof frontallobefunction.
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TheSagestudy Theongoingstudyattwosites,Växjö,Sweden,andBoston,USA, aimstoexploretheeffectsoffourtypesofexercises(cognitive, physical,mindfulnessandplacebo)inrelationtothereleaseofthe proteinBDNFinbloodandvariousmeasuresofhealth.Each participantrandomlyperformedoneofthefourexercisesathome duringfiveweeks,withabroadsetofassessmenttestsatbaseline andfollowͲup.WealsousedtheSwedishversionoftheNational b AdultReadingTest(SweNART) andtheMCSatbaselineandhere reportdataofthisvalidationofassessmentofcognitioninolder adults.
PairedAssociatesLearning(PAL) assessesvisualmemoryand learningandisprimarilysensitive tochangesinmedialtemporal lobefunctioning. ReactionTime(RTI)measuresthesubject’sspeedofresponsetoavisual target. SpatialSpan(SSP)isacomputerizedversionoftheCorsiBlocktask, assessingworkingmemorycapacityandisregardedtogiveameasureof frontallobefunctioning.
Results NosignificantcorrelationswereseenbetweentheCANTABsubtests andtheMCS(PearsonCorrelation).However,therewasagender differenceshowingthatfemalshadlessmomentͲtoͲmoment fluctuationsinattentionthanmeninMCS.(p
