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Dynamic Allocation of Attention in Aging and Alzheimer Disease
Uncoupling of the Eye and Mind
Mark Mapstone, PhD;
Alexander Rösler, MD;
Alissa Hays;
Darren R. Gitelman, MD;
Sandra Weintraub, PhD
Arch Neurol. 2001;58:1443-1447.
Context Visual attention can be distributed focally, in the direction of gaze,
or globally, throughout the extrapersonal space. Aging, and especially Alzheimer
disease (AD), may influence global attention, resulting in shifts of gaze
to attend to the global workspace.
Objective To determine if subjects who have AD and cognitively intact older subjects
shift their gaze more often than young subjects while viewing a dynamic stimulus
that emphasizes global attention.
Design Experimental study of eye fixation patterns in response to a simulated
driving scene with stationary and moving distractors.
Setting Urban, medical school, National Institute on Aging–funded Alzheimer's
Disease Center.
Participants Thirteen subjects with mild probable AD, 13 age-comparable cognitively
intact older control subjects, and 11 young control subjects.
Main Outcome Measure Proportion of eye fixations within and outside of a central region of
interest encompassing the "road" surface.
Results Young controls made significantly more eye fixations (mean number of
eye fixations, 47.5) than either of the other 2 groups (older controls mean,
33.2; patients with AD mean, 32.2). However, 76% of their fixations remained
within the central region of interest. Older controls and subjects with AD
made proportionately fewer fixations within this region (48% and 49%, respectively)
than young controls and moved their eyes more often to the periphery but did
not differ from one another.
Conclusions Young controls maintain central eye position regardless of peripheral
distraction. Older controls move their eyes to the periphery, presumably to
widen the window of attention. Subjects with mild AD did not experience an
additional disadvantage beyond that associated with aging.
From the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (Drs Mapstone,
Rösler, Gitelman, and Weintraub, and Ms Hays), Division of Psychology,
Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Drs Mapstone and Weintraub
and Ms Hays) and Neurology (Drs Gitelman and Weintraub), Northwestern University
Medical School, Chicago, Ill; and the Department of Neurology, Johann-Wolfgang
Goethe University, Frankfurt-Main, Germany (Dr Rösler). Dr Mapstone is
now with the Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center,
Rochester, NY.
Corresponding author: Sandra Weintraub, PhD, Cognitive Neurology
and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Northwestern University Medical School, 320
E Superior St, Searle 11-467, Chicago, IL 60611 (e-mail:
sweintraub{at}northwestern.edu).
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ABSTRACT
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