2004 New Investigator Research Grant

Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is primarily based on assessment of memory and thinking skills. A large effort in dementia research focuses on finding new diagnostic methods that would enable clinicians to identify the disease before the cognitive symptoms are detectable.

People with Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to experiencing memory and thinking deficits, have difficulty with visual perception and attention. Voyko Kavcic, Ph.D., and colleagues have hypothesized, based on previous research, that these deficits are the result of a loss of connectivity between perceptual networks and memory-related networks in the brain.

The investigators will test this hypothesis using a technology called magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging, which can reveal minute structural details about the brain’s white matter, a kind of complex “wiring system” connecting nerve cells in different brain regions with one another.

In this study 30 individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and 30 older adults with no cognitive impairment will undergo clinical assessments of motion perception and visual attention, as well as diffusion tensor imaging tests. The investigators will (1) characterize changes in white matter associated with Alzheimer’s disease, (2) determine if there is a correlation between lost white-matter connectivity and poor visual-perceptual skills, and (3) assess the possible utility of this strategy as a reliable diagnostic tool.