Timing ability in Alzheimer's disease FINAL 1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Timing ability as an early cognitive signature of Alzheimer's disease

  • IRAS ID

    204809

  • Contact name

    Charlotte Bonardi

  • Contact email

    cmb@psychology.nottingham.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Nottingham

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 11 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    The overarching aim of this study is to improve the methods for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Currently drug treatments are limited in their effectiveness because it is not possible to diagnose AD with any certainty until the clinical symptoms are already quite severe. The aim of this study is to evaluate a computer task that we believe, on the basis of our previous work, will help discriminate Alzheimer's disease from other dementias, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and normal age-related memory decline. If this proves to be the case the task could form part of the battery of diagnostic tests that are administered to diagnose this condition. We will be recruiting patients from Nottingham Memory clinics who have been diagnosed with dementia, based on clinical assessment and brain imaging. The study will be conducted in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, or in the participant's own home, at their convenience. The study comprises a computer-based task, in which the participant is presented with simple auditory and visual stimuli, and must respond by simply pressing a key on the keyboard, such as the space bar, following the instructions provided. There will also be an assessment of cognitive ability on the basis of a commonly used dementia rating scale. The whole study will last around 90-120 minutes.

  • REC name

    East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    16/EM/0214

  • Date of REC Opinion

    17 Jun 2016

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion