Could macular degeneration lead to misdiagnosis of cognitive impairment?
Allowances need to be made for vision impairment when applying certain cognitive screening tests, Australian researchers say
Cognitive tests that rely on vision could lead to misdiagnosis of cognitive impairment for people with age-related macular degeneration, researchers suggest.
The team, from the University of SA, found people with normal vision were slower to complete cognitive tasks when wearing goggles that simulated age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The 24 study participants, aged between 18 and 60, completed a series of cognitive tasks, including the vision-dependent Reaction-Time (RTI) task and a vision-independent Verbal Fluency Test (VFT).
The RTI, from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, assessed mental and motor response speeds, while the VFT measured semantic and phonemic fluency.
