Alpha3/alpha2 power ratios relate to performance on a virtual reality shopping task in ageing adults

Joel Patchitt; Lilla A Porffy; Gabriella Whomersley; Timea Szentgyorgyi; Jack Brett; Elias Mouchlianitis; Mitul A Mehta; Judith F Nottage; Sukhi S Shergill

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.876832

Alpha3/alpha2 power ratios relate to performance on a virtual reality shopping task in ageing adults

Joel Patchitt, Lilla A Porffy, Gabriella Whomersley, Timea Szentgyorgyi, Jack Brett, Elias Mouchlianitis, Mitul A Mehta, Judith F Nottage, Sukhi S Shergill

King's College Hospital
The Trafford Centre for Biomedical Research, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RY, UK.
Sussex Univ Hosp, University of Sussex, Sussex Cardiac Ctr
Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit, Faculty of Health and Social Services, Bournemouth University, R506B, Royal London House, Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH1 3LT
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Australia; Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Psychology, Curtin University, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
University East London
Department of Psychological Sciences
Birkbeck, University of London
Univ London, Birkbeck University London, University College London, University of London Royal Veterinary College, University of London, St Georges University London, Imperial College London, Kings College London, Royal Holloway University London, Queen Mary University London, Div Populat Hlth Sci & Educ
Kent and Medway Medical School
Kent and Medway National Health Service and Social Care Partnership Trust

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Aspects of cognitive function decline with age. This phenomenon is referred to as age-related cognitive decline (ARCD). Improving the understanding of these changes that occur as part of the ageing process can serve to enhance the detection of the more incapacitating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we employ novel methods to assess ARCD by exploring the utility of the alpha3/alpha2 electroencephalogram (EEG) power ratio - a marker of AD, and a novel virtual reality (VR) functional cognition task - VStore, in discriminating between young and ageing healthy adults.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty young individuals aged 20-30, and 20 older adults aged 60-70 took part in the study. Participants underwent resting-state EEG and completed VStore and the Cogstate Computerised Cognitive Battery. The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between the age groups was tested using t-test. In addition, the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate were compared using logistic regression and overlying receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Youden's J statistic was used to establish the optimal threshold for sensitivity and specificity and model performance was evaluated with the DeLong's test. Finally, alpha3/alpha2 power ratios were correlated with VStote and Cogstate performance.

RESULTS: The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between age cohorts was not statistically significant. On the other hand, VStore discriminated between age groups with high sensitivity (94%) and specificity (95%) The Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery achieved a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 60%, and Cogstate Composite Score achieved a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 85%. The differences between the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate models were statistically significant. Finally, high alpha3/alpha2 power ratios correlated strongly with VStore (r = 0.73), the Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery (r = -0.67), and Cogstate Composite Score (r = -0.76).

CONCLUSION: While we did not find evidence that the alpha3/alpha2 power ratio is elevated in healthy ageing individuals compared to young individuals, we demonstrated that VStore can classify age cohorts with high accuracy, supporting its utility in the assessment of ARCD. In addition, we found preliminary evidence that elevated alpha3/alpha2 power ratio may be linked to lower cognitive performance.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	876832
Journal	Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Volume	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.876832
Publication status	Published - 2022

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10.3389/fnagi.2022.876832

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@article{e4edc2056cd74e60aed78b21ce092f47,

title = "Alpha3/alpha2 power ratios relate to performance on a virtual reality shopping task in ageing adults",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Aspects of cognitive function decline with age. This phenomenon is referred to as age-related cognitive decline (ARCD). Improving the understanding of these changes that occur as part of the ageing process can serve to enhance the detection of the more incapacitating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we employ novel methods to assess ARCD by exploring the utility of the alpha3/alpha2 electroencephalogram (EEG) power ratio - a marker of AD, and a novel virtual reality (VR) functional cognition task - VStore, in discriminating between young and ageing healthy adults.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty young individuals aged 20-30, and 20 older adults aged 60-70 took part in the study. Participants underwent resting-state EEG and completed VStore and the Cogstate Computerised Cognitive Battery. The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between the age groups was tested using t-test. In addition, the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate were compared using logistic regression and overlying receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Youden's J statistic was used to establish the optimal threshold for sensitivity and specificity and model performance was evaluated with the DeLong's test. Finally, alpha3/alpha2 power ratios were correlated with VStote and Cogstate performance.RESULTS: The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between age cohorts was not statistically significant. On the other hand, VStore discriminated between age groups with high sensitivity (94%) and specificity (95%) The Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery achieved a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 60%, and Cogstate Composite Score achieved a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 85%. The differences between the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate models were statistically significant. Finally, high alpha3/alpha2 power ratios correlated strongly with VStore (r = 0.73), the Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery (r = -0.67), and Cogstate Composite Score (r = -0.76).CONCLUSION: While we did not find evidence that the alpha3/alpha2 power ratio is elevated in healthy ageing individuals compared to young individuals, we demonstrated that VStore can classify age cohorts with high accuracy, supporting its utility in the assessment of ARCD. In addition, we found preliminary evidence that elevated alpha3/alpha2 power ratio may be linked to lower cognitive performance.",

author = "Joel Patchitt and Porffy, {Lilla A} and Gabriella Whomersley and Timea Szentgyorgyi and Jack Brett and Elias Mouchlianitis and Mehta, {Mitul A} and Nottage, {Judith F} and Shergill, {Sukhi S}",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 Patchitt, Porffy, Whomersley, Szentgyorgyi, Brett, Mouchlianitis, Mehta, Nottage and Shergill.",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.3389/fnagi.2022.876832",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

pages = "876832",

journal = "Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience",

issn = "1663-4365",

publisher = "Frontiers Media",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Alpha3/alpha2 power ratios relate to performance on a virtual reality shopping task in ageing adults

AU - Patchitt, Joel

AU - Porffy, Lilla A

AU - Whomersley, Gabriella

AU - Szentgyorgyi, Timea

AU - Brett, Jack

AU - Mouchlianitis, Elias

AU - Mehta, Mitul A

AU - Nottage, Judith F

AU - Shergill, Sukhi S

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - BACKGROUND: Aspects of cognitive function decline with age. This phenomenon is referred to as age-related cognitive decline (ARCD). Improving the understanding of these changes that occur as part of the ageing process can serve to enhance the detection of the more incapacitating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we employ novel methods to assess ARCD by exploring the utility of the alpha3/alpha2 electroencephalogram (EEG) power ratio - a marker of AD, and a novel virtual reality (VR) functional cognition task - VStore, in discriminating between young and ageing healthy adults.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty young individuals aged 20-30, and 20 older adults aged 60-70 took part in the study. Participants underwent resting-state EEG and completed VStore and the Cogstate Computerised Cognitive Battery. The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between the age groups was tested using t-test. In addition, the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate were compared using logistic regression and overlying receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Youden's J statistic was used to establish the optimal threshold for sensitivity and specificity and model performance was evaluated with the DeLong's test. Finally, alpha3/alpha2 power ratios were correlated with VStote and Cogstate performance.RESULTS: The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between age cohorts was not statistically significant. On the other hand, VStore discriminated between age groups with high sensitivity (94%) and specificity (95%) The Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery achieved a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 60%, and Cogstate Composite Score achieved a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 85%. The differences between the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate models were statistically significant. Finally, high alpha3/alpha2 power ratios correlated strongly with VStore (r = 0.73), the Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery (r = -0.67), and Cogstate Composite Score (r = -0.76).CONCLUSION: While we did not find evidence that the alpha3/alpha2 power ratio is elevated in healthy ageing individuals compared to young individuals, we demonstrated that VStore can classify age cohorts with high accuracy, supporting its utility in the assessment of ARCD. In addition, we found preliminary evidence that elevated alpha3/alpha2 power ratio may be linked to lower cognitive performance.

AB - BACKGROUND: Aspects of cognitive function decline with age. This phenomenon is referred to as age-related cognitive decline (ARCD). Improving the understanding of these changes that occur as part of the ageing process can serve to enhance the detection of the more incapacitating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we employ novel methods to assess ARCD by exploring the utility of the alpha3/alpha2 electroencephalogram (EEG) power ratio - a marker of AD, and a novel virtual reality (VR) functional cognition task - VStore, in discriminating between young and ageing healthy adults.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty young individuals aged 20-30, and 20 older adults aged 60-70 took part in the study. Participants underwent resting-state EEG and completed VStore and the Cogstate Computerised Cognitive Battery. The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between the age groups was tested using t-test. In addition, the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate were compared using logistic regression and overlying receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Youden's J statistic was used to establish the optimal threshold for sensitivity and specificity and model performance was evaluated with the DeLong's test. Finally, alpha3/alpha2 power ratios were correlated with VStote and Cogstate performance.RESULTS: The difference in alpha3/alpha2 power ratios between age cohorts was not statistically significant. On the other hand, VStore discriminated between age groups with high sensitivity (94%) and specificity (95%) The Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery achieved a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 60%, and Cogstate Composite Score achieved a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 85%. The differences between the discriminatory accuracy of VStore and Cogstate models were statistically significant. Finally, high alpha3/alpha2 power ratios correlated strongly with VStore (r = 0.73), the Cogstate Pre-clinical Alzheimer's Battery (r = -0.67), and Cogstate Composite Score (r = -0.76).CONCLUSION: While we did not find evidence that the alpha3/alpha2 power ratio is elevated in healthy ageing individuals compared to young individuals, we demonstrated that VStore can classify age cohorts with high accuracy, supporting its utility in the assessment of ARCD. In addition, we found preliminary evidence that elevated alpha3/alpha2 power ratio may be linked to lower cognitive performance.

U2 - 10.3389/fnagi.2022.876832

DO - 10.3389/fnagi.2022.876832

M3 - Article

C2 - 36212034

SN - 1663-4365

VL - 14

SP - 876832

JO - Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

JF - Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

ER -

Alpha3/alpha2 power ratios relate to performance on a virtual reality shopping task in ageing adults

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