Increased biomagnetic activity in healthy elderly with subjective memory complaints

Abstract

Objective: Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are frequently reported by elderly people with or without objective cognitive impairment (OMI) as assessed by neuropsychological tests. We investigate whether SMCs are associated with altered brain biomagnetic patterns even in the absence of OMI.

Methods: We report spatio-temporal patterns of brain magnetic activity recorded with magnetoencephalography during a memory task in 51 elderly participants divided into the following groups: patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with SMC and OMI, individuals with SMC but not OMI, and healthy controls without neither SMC nor OMI. Exclusion criteria for all three groups included a diagnosis of depression or any other psychiatric condition.

Results: No statistically significant differences were found between MCI patients and participants with SMC. However, the SMC showed higher activation, between 200 and 900 ms after stimulus onset, than the control group in posterior ventral regions and in the dorsal pathway. MCI patients showed higher activation than the control group in the posterior part of the ventral pathway.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that similar physiological mechanisms may underlie SMC and MCI, which could be two stages in a cognitive continuum.

Significance: MEG provide different neurophysiological profiles between SMC and control subjects.