title: Antisaccade task reflects cortical involvement in mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to examine executive dysfunction using an antisaccade (AS) task in normal elderly (NE) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease (AD) as well as to evaluate the relationship between AS performance and cortical thinning within AD-associated regions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recorded eye movements in 182 subjects (NE: 118; MCI: 36; AD: 28) during an AS task. We also performed neuropsychological measures of executive function for comparison. Brain MRI scans were collected on most subjects, and cortical thickness was determined in 9 regions known to exhibit atrophy in AD dementia ("AD signature"). We investigated the relationships between AS and neuropsychological performance, as well as possible correlations between AS performance and cortical thickness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  AS performance in MCI resembled that in NE; subjects with AD were impaired relative to both MCI and NE. In all subjects, AS performance correlated with neuropsychological measures of executive function, even after controlling for disease severity. In the subjects with MCI but not in NE, cortical thickness in frontoparietal AD signature regions correlated with AS performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The AS task is a useful measure of executive function across the AD spectrum. In MCI, AS performance may reflect disease burden within cortical brain regions involved in oculomotor control; however, AS impairments in NE may have etiologies other than incipient AD.
authors.affiliation: From the Memory and Aging Center (H.W.H., J.B.M., E.L.K., B.L.M., J.H.K., A.L.B.), Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco; and Frontotemporal Disorders Unit (B.C.D.), Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston.
authors.forename: Hilary W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Heuer
authors.forename: Jacob B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Mirsky
authors.forename: Erwin L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Bradford C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Dickerson
authors.forename: Bruce L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Joel H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Adam L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Boxer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index