Mild Cognitive Impairment Is Associated with Impaired Visual-Motor Planning When Visual Stimuli and Actions Are Incongruent

Background/Aims: This study examined cognitive-motor integration in adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Previously, we showed that the performance of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease patients declined significantly as a visually-guided movement went from having a standard mapping (vision and action spatially aligned) to having a non-standard mapping (vision and action incongruent). The present study extends this line of research by examining the performance of individuals affected by MCI. Methods: The participants made finger movements over a clear touchscreen placed in two separate spatial planes to either constantly present or remembered visual targets. These spatial plane conditions were repeated with the direction of cursor motion rotated 180° from that of hand motion. We also tested an ‘arbitrary’ condition where symbols instructed the participants to move their hand in certain directions. Results: We observe that adults with MCI took significantly longer to plan movements requiring intermediate levels of non-standard mapping, relative to healthy older adults. Conclusions: These data suggest that movements requiring rule integration is affected even in individuals at a very early stage of cognitive decline. Cognitive-motor integration may provide a sensitive means to detect functional difficulty in early cognitive impairment.