Eye tracking dysfunction in Alzheimer-type dementia.
Performance on visual tracking tasks was measured in groups of Alzheimer-type dementia, pseudodementia of depression, and elderly normal controls. Smooth pursuit tracking errors were identified by counting the number of catch-up saccades required to compensate for failure of the smooth pursuit system. The group with Alzheimer-type dementia had significantly worse (p less than 0.0001) smooth pursuit tracking than either pseudodementia subjects or elderly normal controls. A strong correlation (r = 0.74, p less than 0.005) was found in Alzheimer patients between severity of visual tracking abnormality and severity of dementia.
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male