Advanced Medical Scientist-Programm 2022

Thema: "Brain connectivity underpinnings of visual attention dysfunctions in mild cognitive impairment"

Zusammenfassung:
The increasing aging rate in Western societies has rendered the early detection of dementia a top research priority. Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) show altered brain connectivity, which can signal a higher risk for dementia. However, altered brain connectivity in MCI is not well captured by current standard cognitive measures, thereby limiting the utility of
these measures for assessing disease detection and progression or treatment effectiveness in MCI. Although global memory problems are the most distinctive cognitive symptom in dementia, basic visual attention parameters have been found impaired in MCI. Hence, basic visual attention mechanisms could underlie some of the memory problems in MCI, such as in visual
scene memory. AttentionBrainConnect in MCI, ABC-MCI, will thus leverage an innovative task that includes mathematical modeling to investigate basic visual attention parameters, their association with brain connectivity, and their influence on visual scene memory in MCI. Specifically, parameters based on the theory of visual attention, brain connectivity based on
magnetic resonance imaging, and memory performance based on a scene memory recognition task will be obtained. Ultimately, ABC-MCI could yield neurocognitive markers for better disease detection and progression evaluation, and assessment of objective treatment effectiveness.