Auditory attention in the amnesia of Alzheimer's disease; and the response to a central cholinesterase inhibitor

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Alzheimer‘s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is typically associated with poor memory for recent information and events. However, early in its course the disease affects other mental processes, and these contribute to the difficulties with memory. Thus, for example, remembering what one has been told when there are additional conversations in the background requires the ability to pay attention to one speaker and not be distracted by the others. Attention depends on a specialised right brain system, one whose function may be improved by the current drugs licensed to modify the symptoms of AD. My study plans to use imaging techniques to study the effects of AD on the functional and anatomical integrity of the attention system, and compare these results with those from age-matched normal subjects. I will then study the effects of a drug used to treat AD on the imaging measures, and relate these to any changes in psychological tests of memory and attention. Importantly, my study will separate natural variability in imaging measures from those due to the influence of the drug. This study will further our understanding of the effects of AD on higher brain functions and their treatment.