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Access Type
Campus Access
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Psychology
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2010
Month Degree Awarded
February
Keywords
MCI, Processing Speed, Psychological tests
Abstract
Emerging research has suggested that the nature of cognitive deficits in Amnestic-MCI (a-MCI) may extend beyond memory impairments and can include deficits in attention (Gualtieri & Johnson, 2005; 2007). Recent studies have found significant differences between subjects with a-MCI and cognitively healthy individuals on measures of processing speed (Gorus, De Raedt, Lambert, Lemper, & Mets, 2008; Gualtieri & Johnson, 2005; Levinoff, Saumier, & Chertkow, 2005; Silveri et al., 2007). The current study sought to add to the limited research currently available on processing speed in a-MCI by comparing cognitively healthy individuals (M age = 64.57; SD = 6.61) and an age-matched a-MCI group (M age = 64.19; SD = 5.79) on a measure of processing speed, an index of attention. Second, the study evaluated the utility of the “25 Numbers Test” in differentiating individuals with a-MCI from a cognitively healthy group of participants. As expected, the participants with a-MCI performed more poorly (t(72) = -5.96, p < .01) on the 25 Numbers Test and demonstrated greater intra-individual variability in comparison to the cognitively healthy group (t(72) = -3.009, p < .01). The 25 Numbers Test effectively discriminated cognitively healthy individuals from those with a-MCI (AUC = 0.85, p < .01). Results will add to the limited research on processing speed in a-MCI and provide a basis for the importance of evaluating processing speed as part of routine screening for a-MCI.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/1100346
First Advisor
Susan Whitbourne