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Simple visual tests could be an early indicator of cognitive decline, a precursor to dementia, according to a new study published in the journal Brain Sciences.

Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) found that people screening positive for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) performed significantly worse on visual tasks and consistently took longer to respond than cognitively healthy adults, suggesting reaction times could warn of cognitive decline before the type of memory tests that are typically used can detect it.

The study involved 115 participants, including healthy young adults, cognitively healthy older adults and older adults who screened positive for MCI.

Researchers assessed participants using short-term memory tasks that each had a strong visual element. These were designed to test participants' ability to remember and process information while ignoring distracting or conflicting cues.

One of the tasks incorporated a variation of the classic Stroop test, in which participants were shown color words displayed in either matching or conflicting ink colors, such as the word "RED" printed in blue ink. Another task required participants to remember arrows whose direction and movement either matched or conflicted with one another.

Participants who screened positive for MCI recorded lower memory scores overall and took 27% longer to respond than healthy older adults. When they were presented with conflicting visual information, their reaction times also increased, becoming 42% longer than those of cognitively healthy older adults.

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