title: Attention-related potentials allow for a highly accurate discrimination of mild cognitive impairment subtypes.
abstract: The three most frequent forms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are single-domain amnestic MCI (sd-aMCI), single-domain dysexecutive MCI (sd-dMCI) and multiple-domain amnestic MCI (md-aMCI). Brain imaging differences among single domain subgroups of MCI were recently reported supporting the idea that electroencephalography (EEG) functional hallmarks can be used to differentiate these subgroups. We performed event-related potential (ERP) measures and independent component analysis in 18 sd-aMCI, 13 sd-dMCI and 35 md-aMCI cases during the successful performance of the Attentional Network Test. Sensitivity and specificity analyses of ERP for the discrimination of MCI subgroups were also made. In center-cue and spatial-cue warning stimuli, contingent negative variation (CNV) was elicited in all MCI subgroups. Two independent components (ICA1 and 2) were superimposed in the time range on the CNV. The ICA2 was strongly reduced in sd-dMCI compared to sd-aMCI and md-aMCI (4.3 vs. 7.5% and 10.9% of the CNV component). The parietal P300 ERP latency increased significantly in sd-dMCI compared to md-aMCI and sd-aMCI for both congruent and incongruent conditions. This latency for incongruent targets allowed for a highly accurate separation of sd-dMCI from both sd-aMCI and md-aMCI with correct classification rates of 90 and 81%, respectively. This EEG parameter alone performed much better than neuropsychological testing in distinguishing sd-dMCI from md-aMCI. Our data reveal qualitative changes in the composition of the neural generators of CNV in sd-dMCI. In addition, they document an increased latency of the executive P300 component that may represent a highly accurate hallmark for the discrimination of this MCI subgroup in routine clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging Unit, Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, Chene-Bourg, Switzerland. Pascal.Missonnier-Evrard@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Missonnier
authors.forename: François R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Richiardi
authors.forename: Cristelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Marie-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Deiber
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: Panteleimon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Giannakopoulos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged