Examining the Nature of Impairment in Visual Paired Associate Learning in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Objective: Visual spatial learning is impaired in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) although the nature of this impairment is not clear. This study investigated the nature and magnitude of errors made by adults with amnestic MCI (aMCI) when learning pattern-location paired associations in a continuous manner. Method: Visual associate learning was measured using the Continuous Paired Associate Learning (CPAL) task in which 30 adults who met clinical criteria for aMCI and 30 matched controls were required to learn a set of associations between patterns and locations across increasing memory loads (two, four, six, and eight). Results: As hypothesized, the aMCI group made more total errors than co..