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HELP FOR ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT IN NIH STUDY BENEFITS ALL AS WE AGE
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Boston University have found that vision deficits sometimes are the culprit in confounding these individuals' abilities to understand their environment, including the ability to read emotions. Grover C. Gilmore, dean of Case's Mandel School of Social Sciences and professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, with Alice Cronin-Golomb from Boston University and a team of researchers from the schools have received a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to investigate ways to improve environments for people who have lost their ability to discern objects, pictures or words in situations where very little contrast exists. "Our collaboration brings attention to the fact that individuals with Alzheimer's and Parkinson disease have a vision deficit that can impact their daily lives," stated Gilmore. An example of how this vision deficit might thwart someone with Alzheimer's from navigating their environment would be an all-white living room where the couch, carpeting and wall cover are the same white. A typical AD patient, according to Gilmore, would bump into the couch or stumble into the wall because they have lost their ability to separate objects of the same color or intensity and to distinguish brightness from darkness. The impact of the vision deficit is pervasive. "Every Alzheimer's patient has vision spatial contrast deficits, but the severity varies from one person to another," said Gilmore, who has studied vision deficits in his perception lab in Case's College of Arts and Sciences over the past 25 years. The findings from continued research into vision spatial contrast loss will not only benefit those with Alzheimer's and Parkinson disease but every adult, who with age naturally begin to lose the ability to discern objects in low contrast environments and become less sensitive to light after the age of 25. A simple vision contrast perception test on a wall chart can detect the potential problem, but the test is not widely used. This chart differs from the letter chart used to detect how clear and well we see by using circles filled with varying degrees of light and dark lines. What some might attribute to loss of cognitive abilities in individuals with memory problems might actually be low contrast sensitivity, said Gilmore. He likens asking an Alzheimer's patients to perform a test of identifying objects on low or medium contrast paper to having a normal individual with vision problems take a reading test without their glasses. He has found through boosting the contrast of objects against the background, most Alzheimer's patients improve their performance, some dramatically. The computer technology and testing methods the researchers use has been developed by David Wilson, Case professor of biomedical engineering, with Cecil Thomas, formerly of Case but now with St. Louis University. Julie Belkin from the Case department of ophthalmology and Karen Groth, chair of psychology at Notre Dame College, are also involved in the research project. Gilmore and his researchers in the perception lab, which is located in the basement of Mather Memorial Hall at Case, have tested hundreds of individuals using the program that Wilson developed and that shows objects in low, medium and high contrast situations. In the new study, the researchers will study a total of 80 people, 40 with Alzheimer's and 40 with Parkinson disease and compare them to a control group of normal individuals. "We want to advance the understanding of how vision deficits impact Alzheimer's and Parkinson patients to improve the quality of life," said Gilmore. The new study continues the collaboration that in past investigations has researched how Alzheimer's patients increase the amount of food they eat by using eating utensils and dinnerware that provide a greater contrast to the food to be eaten. Alzheimer's patients can also move throughout their homes, walk down steps when risers are marked, work in the kitchen or read books when there is greater contrast and with greater safety. "Caregivers have reported an improved quality of life for themselves and the people they care for," explained Gilmore. "Many simple things can be done to the environment we live in to make it easier as we get older."
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