Golden, HL;
Nicholas, JM;
Yong, KX;
Downey, LE;
Schott, JM;
Mummery, CJ;
Crutch, SJ;
(2015)
Auditory spatial processing in Alzheimer's disease.
Brain
, 138
(1)
189 - 202.
10.1093/brain/awu337.
![[thumbnail of brain.awu337.full.pdf]](https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png) |
PDF
brain.awu337.full.pdf Download (691kB) |
Abstract
The location and motion of sounds in space are important cues for encoding the auditory world. Spatial processing is a core component of auditory scene analysis, a cognitively demanding function that is vulnerable in Alzheimer's disease. Here we designed a novel neuropsychological battery based on a virtual space paradigm to assess auditory spatial processing in patient cohorts with clinically typical Alzheimer's disease (n = 20) and its major variant syndrome, posterior cortical atrophy (n = 12) in relation to healthy older controls (n = 26). We assessed three dimensions of auditory spatial function: externalized versus non-externalized sound discrimination, moving versus stationary sound discrimination and stationary auditory spatial position discrimination, together with non-spatial auditory and visual spatial control tasks. Neuroanatomical correlates of auditory spatial processing were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Relative to healthy older controls, both patient groups exhibited impairments in detection of auditory motion, and stationary sound position discrimination. The posterior cortical atrophy group showed greater impairment for auditory motion processing and the processing of a non-spatial control complex auditory property (timbre) than the typical Alzheimer's disease group. Voxel-based morphometry in the patient cohort revealed grey matter correlates of auditory motion detection and spatial position discrimination in right inferior parietal cortex and precuneus, respectively. These findings delineate auditory spatial processing deficits in typical and posterior Alzheimer's disease phenotypes that are related to posterior cortical regions involved in both syndromic variants and modulated by the syndromic profile of brain degeneration. Auditory spatial deficits contribute to impaired spatial awareness in Alzheimer's disease and may constitute a novel perceptual model for probing brain network disintegration across the Alzheimer's disease syndromic spectrum.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Auditory spatial processing in Alzheimer's disease. |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/brain/awu337 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awu337 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Alzheimer’s, auditory, posterior cortical atrophy, space, voxel-based morphometry, Acoustic Stimulation, Aged, Alzheimer Disease, Auditory Perceptual Disorders, Brain Mapping, Discrimination (Psychology), Female, Humans, Male, Mental Status Schedule, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Photic Stimulation, Principal Component Analysis, Sound Localization, Space Perception, Statistics as Topic |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Department of Neuromuscular Diseases UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Neurodegenerative Diseases |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1458408 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
