Spatial Navigation Ability as a Predictor of Increased Clinical Impairment

Author

Taylor Hendershott, Washington University in St. LouisFollow

Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2019

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Author's Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Degree Type

Thesis

Abstract

Spatial navigation deficits are observed in Alzheimer disease (AD) cross-sectionally, but prediction of longitudinal clinical decline has been less examined. Cognitive mapping (CM) was assessed in 95 participants and route Learning (RL) was assessed in 65 participants at baseline. Clinical progression over an average of 4.16 years was assessed using the Clinical Dementia Rating scale. Relative predictive ability of these tasks was compared to episodic memory, hippocampal volume and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers (ptau₁₈₁/Aβ₄₂ ratio). CM and RL were significant predictors of clinical progression (ps181/Aβ₄₂ in prediction (psTaken together the results suggest that baseline spatial navigation performance may be appropriate for assessing risk of clinical progression.

Language

English (en)

Chair and Committee

Denise Head

Committee Members

Jeffrey Zacks, Brian Carpenter

Comments

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/mz46-3168

Recommended Citation

Hendershott, Taylor, "Spatial Navigation Ability as a Predictor of Increased Clinical Impairment" (2019). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1878.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/1878