Visuospatial Attention, Eye Movements and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) in Alzheimer's Disease

NCT02941289 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 16-AOI-06
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 48
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The aim is to understand which components of attentional deployment and selection are impaired in AD during searching in realistic scenes on a computer screen (Experiment 1) and in a natural setting (Experiment 2).The investigators will also examine how deficits in visual exploration may be related to impairments in semantic, long-term memory (LTM) and working memory (WM) representations by manipulating the semantic consistency between the target and its visual surroundings, and the type of target cue (abstract vs. precise), respectively. Perceptual saliency of target and distractor objects will be also manipulated in Expt.1, In Expt.2, in order to determine how deficits in visual exploration may be involved in the IADL deficits shown by AD patients, participants at each trial will be required to search in a natural settings different types of targets and then to perform an IADL using five objects, among which one of the searched targets. Measures analysed: for the search tasks (Expt. 1 and 2): eye movements in different search phases, accuracy and response times; for IADLs tasks (Expt. 2): eye movements during action planning and execution, motor efficiency (number and types of action performed), time to terminate the activity. Compared to controls, the investigators expect that AD patients will have reduced ability using scene semantic LTM in order to locate the objects, greater attentional capture from highly salient features and greater search performance impairment when higher WM resources are required (abstract target cues). The investigators also expect that their performance at IADLs will be less efficient and, in particular, less organized than control, with reduced advantage of eye guidance.

Conditions

Alzheimer's Disease

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Total number of fixations during search

  Oculomotor behavior and search performance in AD patients compared to elderly controls in a computerized visual search task using realistic scenes (Experiment 1), as well as when searching for specific objects in a real setting and during activities of daily living (Experiment 2).

  at 2 weeks

• Total duration of fixations during search

  This is the eye movement parameters that the investigators will analyze in the data

  at 2 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Alzheimer's patient

EXPERIMENTAL

Probable diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with a mild impairment (MMSE 20-26) according to DSM IV diagnosis criteria

Procedure: Performance of everyday objects in realistic scenes

Control patient

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

patient with MMSE score equal or \> 27

Procedure: Performance of everyday objects in realistic scenes

Interventions

Performance of everyday objects in realistic scenes PROCEDURE

visual search performance of everyday objects in realistic scenes

Alzheimer's patient; Control patient

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years - 75 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Male and female
• Age between 65 and 75 years old
• MMSE score equal or \> 27
• Normal visual acuity (with or without correction to normality)
• Subjects with a score of 0 on " tremors " and " rigidity " items of UPDRS III scale
• Subjects without major depression criteria according to DSM IV-R
• No apathy according to diagnostic criteria of apathy
• Signed informed consent
• Male and female
• Age between 65 and 75 years old
• Probable diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with a mild impairment (MMSE 20-26) according to DSM IV diagnosis criteria
• Normal visual acuity (with or without correction to normality)
• Subjects with a zero score on " tremors " and " rigidity " items of UPDRS III scale
• Signed informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• Controls with neurological and/or psychiatric pathologies
• AD patients with neurological and/or psychiatric pathologies unrelated to AD
• AD patients with vascular dementia suspicion in addition to the probable diagnosis of AD
• AD patients with MMSE score \< 20
• Individuals with abnormal visual acuity (i.e., glaucoma, cataract sufficiently severe that limited vision…)
• Individuals with motor disorders, Parkinsonism…
• Receiving drug treatments that could alter cognitive functions

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice: lead

Study Sites (1)

CHU de Nice

Nice, France

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Ramzaoui H, Faure S, David R, Spotorno S. Top-down and bottom-up sources of eye-movement guidance during realistic scene search in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychology. 2022 Oct;36(7):597-613. doi: 10.1037/neu0000797. Epub 2022 Jul 7.

  PMID: 35797174 RESULT

• Ramzaoui H, Faure S, Spotorno S. Top-down and bottom-up guidance in normal aging during scene search. Psychol Aging. 2021 Jun;36(4):433-451. doi: 10.1037/pag0000485.

  PMID: 34124920 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alzheimer Disease

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Dementia; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Tauopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 30, 2016
• First Posted: October 21, 2016
• Study Start: April 27, 2017
• Primary Completion: April 12, 2018
• Study Completion: April 12, 2018
• Last Updated: March 24, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

FR (1)