title: Investigating virtual reality navigation in amnestic mild cognitive impairment using fMRI.
abstract: Spatial navigation requires a well-established network of brain regions, including the hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and retrosplenial cortex. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) is a condition with predominantly memory impairment, conferring a high predictive risk factor for dementia. aMCI is associated with hippocampal atrophy and subtle deficits in spatial navigation. We present the first use of a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) navigation task in aMCI, using a virtual reality analog of the Radial Arm Maze. Compared with controls, aMCI patients showed reduced activity in the hippocampus bilaterally, retrosplenial cortex, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Reduced activation in key areas for successful navigation, as well as additional regions, was found alongside relatively normal task performance. Results also revealed increased activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in aMCI patients, which may reflect compensation for reduced activations elsewhere. These data support suggestions that fMRI spatial navigation tasks may be useful for staging of progression in MCI.
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Migo
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: O'Daly
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.|b Department for Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics , Campus Innenstadt, Ludwig-Maximilians-University , Munich , Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitterschiffthaler
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Antonova
authors.affiliation: c P1vital , Wallingford , UK.
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.affiliation: c P1vital , Wallingford , UK.
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Dourish
authors.affiliation: c P1vital , Wallingford , UK.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.|d NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London , London , UK.|e NIHR Biomedical Research Unit for Dementia at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London , London , UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.affiliation: f Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences , University of Oxford , John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Wilcock
authors.affiliation: f Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences , University of Oxford , John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCulloch
authors.affiliation: g Clinical Age Research Unit, King's College Hospital , London , UK.
authors.forename: S H D
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kopelman
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.
authors.forename: S C R
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: a King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology and Neuroscience , London , UK.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Morris
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000647:Amnesia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D065854:Spatial Navigation / Q000502:physiology*; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Mild cognitive impairment; fMRI, navigation; hippocampus; spatial memory