Short-term practice effects in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: implications for diagnosis and treatment.
BACKGROUND
Practice effects have been widely reported in healthy older adults, but these improvements due to repeat exposure to test materials have been more equivocal in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).


METHODS
The current study examined short-term practice effects in MCI by repeating a brief battery of cognitive tests across one week in 59 older adults with amnestic MCI and 62 intact older adults.


RESULTS
Participants with amnestic MCI showed significantly greater improvements on two delayed recall measures (p < 0.01) compared to intact peers. All other practice effects were comparable between these two groups. Practice effects significantly improved scores in the MCI group so that 49% of them were reclassified as "intact" after one week, whereas the other 51% remained "stable" as MCI. Secondary analyses indicated the MCI-Intact group demonstrated larger practice effects on two memory measures than their peers (p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
These results continue to inform us about the nature of memory deficits in MCI, and could have implications for the diagnosis and possible treatment of this amnestic condition.
Duff
Kevin
K
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1000, USA. kevin-duff@uiowa.edu
Beglinger
Leigh J
LJ
Van Der Heiden
Sara
S
Moser
David J
DJ
Arndt
Stephan
S
Schultz
Susan K
SK
Paulsen
Jane S
JS
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index