Institute for Cellular Medicine, Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2011 Jun;24(2):73-83. doi: 10.1177/0891988711402348. Epub 2011 Apr 6.
Visuoperceptual deficits in dementia are common and can reduce quality of life. Testing of visuoperceptual function is often confounded by impairments in other cognitive domains and motor dysfunction. We aimed to develop, pilot, and test a novel visuocognitive prototype test battery which addressed these issues, suitable for both clinical and functional imaging use.
We recruited 23 participants (14 with dementia, 6 of whom had extrapyramidal motor features, and 9 age-matched controls). The novel Newcastle visual perception prototype battery (NEVIP-B-Prototype) included angle, color, face, motion and form perception tasks, and an adapted response system. It allows for individualized task difficulties. Participants were tested outside and inside the 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed using SPM8.
All participants successfully completed the task inside and outside the scanner. Functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis showed activation regions corresponding well to the regional specializations of the visual association cortex. In both groups, there was significant activity in the ventral occipital-temporal region in the face and color tasks, whereas the motion task activated the V5 region. In the control group, the angle task activated the occipitoparietal cortex. Patients and controls showed similar levels of activation, except on the angle task for which occipitoparietal activation was lower in patients than controls.
Distinct visuoperceptual functions can be tested in patients with dementia and extrapyramidal motor features when tests use individualized thresholds, adapted tasks, and specialized response systems.
痴呆症患者常见视觉感知缺陷，这会降低生活质量。对视觉感知功能的测试通常会受到其他认知领域损伤和运动功能障碍的影响。我们旨在开发、试用并测试一种新的视觉认知原型测试组合，以解决这些问题，适用于临床和功能成像。
我们招募了 23 名参与者（14 名痴呆症患者，其中 6 名有锥体外系运动特征，9 名年龄匹配的对照组）。新的纽卡斯尔视觉感知原型电池（NEVIP-B-Prototype）包括角度、颜色、面部、运动和形式感知任务，以及一个适应性的反应系统。它允许对每个任务的难度进行个性化设置。参与者在 3T 功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描仪内外接受测试。功能磁共振成像数据使用 SPM8 进行分析。
所有参与者都成功地在扫描仪内外完成了任务。功能磁共振成像分析显示，激活区域与视觉联合皮层的区域专业化相对应良好。在两组中，面部和颜色任务都会激活腹侧枕颞叶区域，而运动任务会激活 V5 区域。在对照组中，角度任务会激活顶枕叶皮质。患者和对照组的激活水平相似，除了角度任务，患者的顶枕叶激活水平低于对照组。
当使用个性化阈值、适应性任务和专门的反应系统时，患有痴呆症和锥体外系运动特征的患者可以进行不同的视觉感知功能测试。
