AUTHOR=Lowry Ellen , Puthusseryppady Vaisakh , Coughlan Gillian , Jeffs Stephen , Hornberger Michael TITLE=Path Integration Changes as a Cognitive Marker for Vascular Cognitive Impairment?—A Pilot Study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience VOLUME=14 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00131 DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2020.00131 ISSN=1662-5161 ABSTRACT=
Path integration spatial navigation processes are emerging as promising cognitive markers for prodromal and clinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, such path integration changes have been less explored in Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI), despite neurovascular change being a major contributing factor to dementia and potentially AD. In particular, the sensitivity and specificity of path integration impairments in VCI compared to AD is unclear. In the current pilot study, we explore path integration performance in early-stage AD and VCI patient groups and hypothesize that: (i) medial parietal mediated egocentric processes will be more affected in VCI; and (ii) medial temporal mediated allocentric processes will be more affected in AD. This cross-sectional study included early-stage VCI patients (