A Behavioral Task Predicts Conversion to Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease

Background/Rationale: Currently, we cannot reliably differentiate individuals at risk of cognitive decline, for example, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), from those individuals who are not at risk. Methods: A total of 32 participants with MCI and 60 control (CON) participants were tested on an innovative, sensitive behavioral assay, the visual paired comparison (VPC) task using infrared eye tracking. The participants were followed for 3 years after testing. Results: Scores on the VPC task predicted, up to 3 years prior to a change in clinical diagnosis, those patients with MCI who would and who would not progress to AD and CON participants who would and would not progress to MCI. Conclusions: The present findings show that the VPC task can predict impending cognitive decline. To our knowledge, this is the first behavioral task that can identify CON participants who will develop MCI or patients with MCI who will develop AD within the next few years.