Inside Precision Medicine March 1, 2024
Virtual reality headsets can reveal navigational issues in people at increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease before any declines in memory appear, research shows.
The headsets flagged spatial navigation problems even when there were no concerns in cognitive tests, according to the findings in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Spatial issues specifically related to path integration, a form of navigation in which a person uses self-motion cues to estimate their position in the environment.
The findings are consistent with the idea that Alzheimer’s-related tau proteins initially deposit in the entorhinal cortex of the brain—whose grid cells are crucial to path integration—where they disrupt the spatially-related firing of neurons.
The research may improve the detection of the clinical...
Today's Sponsors
Today's Sponsor