Stothart George, Alderman Sophie, Hermann Oliver, Creavin Sam, Coulthard Elizabeth J
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, England, UK.
Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1QU, England, UK.
Brain Commun. 2025 Sep 1;7(5):fcaf279. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaf279. eCollection 2025.
As viable pharmacotherapies and blood biomarkers emerge for dementia treatment and screening, there remains a great need for accurate, sensitive biomarkers of cognitive function. We have previously demonstrated that Fastball, a new Electroencephalography (EEG) method for the passive and objective measurement of recognition memory that requires no behavioural memory response or task comprehension, is sensitive to cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. Here we present new evidence that Fastball is sensitive to amnestic dysfunction in an earlier stage of the dementia lifecourse, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). 53 MCI patients and 54 healthy older adult (HOA) controls completed a 3-min Fastball task in which they passively viewed rapidly presented images while EEG captured their automatic ability to differentiate between images based on previous exposure. They also completed neuropsychological assessments of memory (Delayed Match to Sample-48), sustained attention (Psychomotor Vigilance Task), and general cognitive function (Addenbrookes Cognitive Exam-iii). Participants were re-tested after 1 year to establish the test-retest reliability of Fastball in HOAs, and the sensitivity of Fastball to cognitive decline in MCI patients, over a 1 year period. Amnestic MCI patients showed significantly reduced Fastball responses compared with non-amnestic MCI patients ( = 0.001, Cohen's = 0.98) and HOA controls ( = 0.005, Cohen's = 0.64). Regression analyses showed that Fastball EEG responses were selectively predictive of neuropsychological measures of recognition memory and not attention. Between baseline and year one follow-up Fastball showed moderate to good test-retest reliability in HOA controls, and the six MCI-dementia converters showed a trend for lower Fastball responses at baseline which will be confirmed with further longitudinal assessment. Fastball is further validated as a viable method for testing recognition memory in cognitively impaired populations. We have demonstrated that it is selectively predictive of memory dysfunction and not attention or other cognitive functions. It is passive, non-invasive, quick to administer and uses cheap, scalable EEG technology. Fastball is a viable functional biomarker that can help to advance cognitive assessment in MCI.
随着用于痴呆症治疗和筛查的可行药物疗法及血液生物标志物的出现，对准确、灵敏的认知功能生物标志物仍有巨大需求。我们之前已经证明，Fastball是一种用于被动和客观测量识别记忆的新脑电图（EEG）方法，无需行为记忆反应或任务理解，对阿尔茨海默病中的认知功能障碍敏感。在此，我们给出新证据，表明Fastball在痴呆症病程的早期阶段——轻度认知障碍（MCI）中，对遗忘功能障碍敏感。53名MCI患者和54名健康老年人（HOA）对照完成了一项3分钟的Fastball任务，在此任务中，他们被动观看快速呈现的图像，同时EEG记录他们基于先前接触对图像进行区分的自动能力。他们还完成了记忆（延迟匹配样本 - 48）、持续注意力（精神运动警觉任务）和一般认知功能（Addenbrookes认知测试 - iii）的神经心理学评估。参与者在1年后重新接受测试，以确定Fastball在HOA中的重测信度，以及Fastball在1年期间对MCI患者认知衰退的敏感性。遗忘型MCI患者与非遗忘型MCI患者（ = 0.001，科恩d = 0.98）及HOA对照（ = 0.005，科恩d = 0.64）相比，Fastball反应显著降低。回归分析表明，Fastball EEG反应可选择性地预测识别记忆的神经心理学指标，而非注意力。在基线和一年随访之间，Fastball在HOA对照中显示出中度至良好的重测信度，6名从MCI转变为痴呆症的患者在基线时Fastball反应有降低趋势，这将通过进一步的纵向评估得到证实。Fastball作为一种用于测试认知受损人群识别记忆的可行方法得到了进一步验证。我们已经证明，它可选择性地预测记忆功能障碍，而非注意力或其他认知功能。它是被动、非侵入性的，实施快速，并且使用廉价、可扩展的EEG技术。Fastball是一种可行的功能生物标志物，可有助于推进MCI中的认知评估。
