Attentional Control in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Background: Attention is an essential cognitive ability that is necessary in other cognitive processes. Only few studies have focused on decline in specific functions of attention in older adults with cognitive decline. No research explores the difference in the proactive and reactive mode of control between the healthy control (HC) and older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Objective: The current work investigated whether there was any decline in alerting, orienting, and executive control in SCD. Particularly, the present study further explored the impairment of the proactive and reactive control in SCD. Methods: We recruited 25 HC and 26 SCD. All participants first finished a set of neuropsychological assessments. They then completed an Attention Network Test for measuring the alerting, orienting, and executive control, the List-wide and the Item-specific Proportion Congruency Effect task for measuring the proactive and reactive mode of control, respectively. Results: No difference was found in alerting, orienting, and executive control measured by the ANT between SCD and HC. The results also indicated no difference in the reactive control between SCD and HC. However, older adults with SCD performed worse in the proactive control as compared to HC. Conclusions: Older adults with SCD showed an impairment in the proactive control. The current findings help us better understand objective decline in cognitive domains other than memory and shed light on early assessment and prevention of AD.

Automated summary

This study investigated the decline in alerting, orienting, and executive control in older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), as well as the difference in the proactive and reactive modes of control between SCD and healthy controls (HC). The results showed that older adults with SCD exhibited impairment in proactive control compared to HC.