{"157711":{"#nid":"157711","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Eliminating Visual Clutter Helps People with Mild Cognitive Impairment","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study from Georgia Tech and the University of Toronto suggests that memory impairments for people diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer\u2019s disease may be due, in part, to problems in determining the differences between similar objects. The findings also support growing research indicating that a part of the brain once believed to support memory exclusively \u2013 the medial temporal lobe - also plays a role in object perception. The results are \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/hipo.22071\/full\u0022\u003Epublished\u003C\/a\u003E in the October edition of Hippocampus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a disorder commonly thought to be a precursor to Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The study\u2019s investigators, partnering with the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/med.emory.edu\/ADRC\/\u0022\u003EEmory Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center\u003C\/a\u003E, tested MCI patients on their ability to determine whether two rotated, side-by-side pictures were different or identical.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the high-interference trials, many photos of the same thing (a blob-like object) were shown. The photos varied only slightly when they weren\u2019t a perfect match, either by shape, color or fill pattern. As expected, MCI patients struggled greatly to identify identical pairings.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the low-interference trials, these blob-like objects were interspersed with trials in which non-matches were more extreme and varied widely. For example, a picture of a butterfly was shown next to a photo of a microwave. Interspersing the very similar blob-like objects with photos of dissimilar objects greatly reduced the amount of interference.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMinimizing the degree of perceptual interference improved patients\u2019 object perception by reducing the number of visually similar features,\u201d said project leader Rachel Newsome, a University of Toronto Ph.D. student and Georgia Tech graduate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe findings suggest that, under certain circumstances, reducing \u201cvisual clutter\u201d could help MCI patients with everyday tasks. For example, buttons on a telephone tend to be the same size and color. Only the numbers are different \u2013 a very slight visual difference for someone who struggles with object perception. One solution could be a phone with varying sized buttons and different colors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeople diagnosed with MCI weren\u2019t the only ones to struggle in the study. The researchers performed the same tests on candidates at-risk for MCI, people who had previously shown no signs of cognitive impairment. They performed the same as those with MCI, suggesting that the perception test could be used as an early indicator of cognitive impairment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople often associate MCI and dementia solely with memory impairment,\u201d said Georgia Tech Psychology Assistant Professor Audrey Duarte, one of the study\u2019s authors. \u201cMemory and perception appear to be intertwined in the same area of the human brain.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuarte and her colleagues are among the growing number of researchers studying Alzheimer\u2019s who believe damage to a small area of the medial temporal lobes, the perirhinal cortex, affects object perception.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNot only does memory seem to be very closely linked to perception, but it\u2019s also likely that one affects the other,\u201d said Toronto\u2019s Morgan Barense, the final member of the team. \u201cAlzheimer\u2019s patients may have trouble recognizing a loved one\u2019s face, not only because they can\u2019t remember it, but also because they aren\u2019t able to correctly perceive its distinct combination of features to begin with.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New study suggests memory impairment tied to object perception"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study from Georgia Tech and the University of Toronto suggests that memory impairments for people diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer\u2019s disease may be due, in part, to problems in determining the differences between similar objects. The findings also support growing research indicating that a part of the brain once believed to support memory exclusively \u2013 the medial temporal lobe - also plays a role in object perception.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new study suggests that memory impairments for people diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer\u2019s disease may be due, in part, to problems in determining the differences between similar objects."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-09-28 11:50:52","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:54","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-10-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-10-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"157701":{"id":"157701","type":"image","title":"High-Interference Object Perception","body":null,"created":"1449178883","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:23","changed":"1475894792","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:32","alt":"High-Interference Object Perception","file":{"fid":"195330","name":"perception-slide-1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/perception-slide-1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/perception-slide-1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":62172,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/perception-slide-1_0.jpg?itok=Gx1_KHyf"}},"157691":{"id":"157691","type":"image","title":"Low-Interference Object Perception","body":null,"created":"1449178883","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:23","changed":"1475894792","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:32","alt":"Low-Interference Object Perception","file":{"fid":"195329","name":"perception-slide-2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/perception-slide-2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/perception-slide-2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":38522,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/perception-slide-2_0.jpg?itok=uUZujuaQ"}},"157721":{"id":"157721","type":"image","title":"Audrey Duarte","body":null,"created":"1449178883","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:41:23","changed":"1475894792","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:32","alt":"Audrey Duarte","file":{"fid":"195331","name":"audrey_duarte.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/audrey_duarte_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/audrey_duarte_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2580817,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/audrey_duarte_0.jpg?itok=27qv_zlF"}}},"media_ids":["157701","157691","157721"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/hipo.22071\/full","title":"Published Article"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/duarte_audrey.php","title":"Audrey Duarte Research Website"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.psychology.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech School of Psychology"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Sciences"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"44881","name":"Alzheimer\u0027s Disease"},{"id":"14224","name":"Audrey Duarte"},{"id":"44891","name":"Object Perception"},{"id":"1222","name":"psychology"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}