Effects of Route Complexity and Lighting on Route Following in Alzheimer's Disease and Posterior Cortical Atrophy.

Objective: Visual processing deficits arising in dementia are associated with particular functional disability. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the built environment on mobility and navigation in people with dementia-related visual loss.

Methods: Participants with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA; "visual-variant Alzheimer's"; n = 11), typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD; N = 10), and controls (n = 13) repeatedly walked down routes within a simplified real-world setting.

Effects of lighting variability on locomotion in posterior cortical atrophy.

Introduction: Clinical reports describe patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibiting atypical adaptive walking responses to the visual environment; however, there is limited empirical investigation of such behaviors or factors modulating their expression. We aim to evaluate effects of lighting-based interventions and clinical presentation (visual- vs memory-led) on walking function in participants with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) and typical AD (tAD).

Methods: Participants with PCA (n = 10), tAD (n = 9), and healthy controls (n = 12) walked to visible target destinations under different lighting conditions within two pilot repeated-measures design investigations (Experiment 1: 32 trials per participant; Experiment 2: 36 trials per participant).

Navigational cue effects in Alzheimer's disease and posterior cortical atrophy.

Objective: Deficits in spatial navigation are characteristic and disabling features of typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD) and posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). Visual cues have been proposed to mitigate such deficits; however, there is currently little empirical evidence for their use.

Methods: The effect of visual cues on visually guided navigation was assessed within a simplified real-world setting in individuals with tAD ( = 10), PCA ( = 8), and healthy controls ( = 12).

Locomotion and eye behaviour under controlled environment in individuals with Alzheimer's disease.

This study aimed to examine simple locomotion and eye behaviour of individuals with Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) and typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD) within a simulated real-world environment. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterised by parietal, occipital and occipito-temporal tissue loss and progressive impairment of higher-order visual function in contrast to relatively spared memory and language. Targeted types of locomotion were walking in a series of corridors, up or down stairs, and across an open room with or without the presence of an obstacle.