TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating virtual reality navigation in amnestic mild cognitive impairment using fMRI
AU - Migo, E. M.
AU - O’Daly, O.
AU - Mitterschiffthaler, M.
AU - Antonova, E.
AU - Dawson, G. R.
AU - Dourish, C. T.
AU - Craig, K. J.
AU - Simmons, A.
AU - Wilcock, G. K.
AU - McCulloch, E.
AU - Jackson, S. H D
AU - Kopelman, M. D.
AU - Williams, S. C R
AU - Morris, R. G.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Spatial navigation requires a well-established network of brain regions, including the hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and retrosplenial cortex. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) is a condition with predominantly memory impairment, conferring a high predictive risk factor for dementia. aMCI is associated with hippocampal atrophy and subtle deficits in spatial navigation. We present the first use of a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) navigation task in aMCI, using a virtual reality analog of the Radial Arm Maze. Compared with controls, aMCI patients showed reduced activity in the hippocampus bilaterally, retrosplenial cortex, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Reduced activation in key areas for successful navigation, as well as additional regions, was found alongside relatively normal task performance. Results also revealed increased activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in aMCI patients, which may reflect compensation for reduced activations elsewhere. These data support suggestions that fMRI spatial navigation tasks may be useful for staging of progression in MCI.
AB - Spatial navigation requires a well-established network of brain regions, including the hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and retrosplenial cortex. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) is a condition with predominantly memory impairment, conferring a high predictive risk factor for dementia. aMCI is associated with hippocampal atrophy and subtle deficits in spatial navigation. We present the first use of a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) navigation task in aMCI, using a virtual reality analog of the Radial Arm Maze. Compared with controls, aMCI patients showed reduced activity in the hippocampus bilaterally, retrosplenial cortex, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Reduced activation in key areas for successful navigation, as well as additional regions, was found alongside relatively normal task performance. Results also revealed increased activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in aMCI patients, which may reflect compensation for reduced activations elsewhere. These data support suggestions that fMRI spatial navigation tasks may be useful for staging of progression in MCI.
KW - fMRI, navigation
KW - hippocampus
KW - Mild cognitive impairment
KW - spatial memory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938614334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13825585.2015.1073218
DO - 10.1080/13825585.2015.1073218
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84938614334
SN - 1382-5585
VL - 23:2
SP - 196
EP - 217
JO - Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition
JF - Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition
M1 - DOI:10.1080/13825585.2015.1073218
ER -
