Alzheimer Tipi Demans Hastalarında Duygusal Çalışma Belleğinin Fonksiyonel Kızıl Ötesine Yakın Spektroskopi (F-Nirs) ile İncelenmesi

Abstract

Alzheimer Type Dementia (ATD) is a disease with progressive memory loss and cognitive impairments. Working memory (WM) is a system which temporarily holds and regulates the information during cognitive tasks and it has been found to be related with prefrontal cortex. It has been suggested that emotional working memory (EWM) is a different kind of WM concerning emotional stimuli. WM deficits are displayed at early phases of ATD. Hence, investigation of EWM in ATD is of particular importance.The main aims of this study are to observe prefrontal activation during EWM task using f-NIRS in ATD patients and healthy elderly (HE) and compare the groups by means of f-NIRS measurements, EWM performance and reaction time. Twenty ATD patients and 20 HE were recruited for the study. N-back task was administered in three conditions by employing neutral, positive and negative word lists as stimuli (presented in blocks each consists of 6 target and 14 non-target words in each condition).