University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2010;29(2):139-45. doi: 10.1159/000275672. Epub 2010 Feb 10.
Attention deficits are at the core of the defects in neuropsychological performance which define both dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Most studies have used separate tasks to test different attention abilities in patients with these diagnoses, precluding the assessment of any interaction among the different attention components.
We used a version of the Attention Network Test in which the alerting, orienting and executive attention networks, along with their interactions, could be assessed with a single task. Three groups of participants were tested: DLB patients (n = 13), AD patients (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 18).
The alerting signal improved orienting attention and increased the conflict effect in the healthy controls, but they had no effect on these networks in the AD patients. The DLB patients only showed preserved orienting and conflict effects when the alerting signal was present, indicating that there was regulation of the orienting and executive attention networks by the alerting signal.
The most important differences among the 3 groups were observed in the attention network interactions, where alerting played a more relevant role in the DLB than in the AD patients. Under alerting states, the DLB patients showed evidence of certain regulation in the orienting and executive attention networks.
注意力缺陷是神经心理表现缺陷的核心，这些缺陷定义了路易体痴呆（DLB）和阿尔茨海默病（AD）。大多数研究使用单独的任务来测试这些诊断患者的不同注意力能力，从而排除了对不同注意力成分之间任何相互作用的评估。
我们使用了一种注意网络测试的版本，其中可以通过单个任务评估警觉、定向和执行注意网络及其相互作用。我们测试了三组参与者：DLB 患者（n = 13）、AD 患者（n = 18）和健康对照组（n = 18）。
警觉信号改善了定向注意力，并增加了健康对照组的冲突效应，但对 AD 患者的这些网络没有影响。只有当警觉信号存在时，DLB 患者才表现出定向和冲突效应的保留，表明警觉信号对定向和执行注意网络进行了调节。
三组之间最重要的差异观察到在注意力网络相互作用中，在 DLB 患者中，警觉信号的作用比在 AD 患者中更为重要。在警觉状态下，DLB 患者在定向和执行注意网络中表现出一定的调节迹象。
