A new study has revealed that your eyes can show signs if you are at risk of developing dementia at least 12 years before the actual diagnosis. During the study, the researchers examined 8,623 healthy people in Norfolk, England, who were followed up for many years.
According to a report by Science Alert, participants had developed dementia. During the beginning of the study, the study participants were asked to take a visual test. The researchers found that people who would develop dementia were much slower to see this triangle on the screen than people who would remain without dementia.
The scientists maintain that the visual issues may be an early sign of cognitive decline as the toxic amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease may first affect areas of the brain associated with vision.
The team believes that vision tests may find deficits before memory tests do. The scientists also observed several other aspects of visual processing that are affected in Alzheimer’s disease, like the ability to see outlines of objects and to discern between certain colours and these can affect people’s lives without them being immediately aware it.
The researchers also have some evidence that highlight that people with dementia tend to process new people’s faces inefficiently. The researchers also pointed out that also testing whether getting people to do more eye movements helps to improve memory.
The study was conducted by Eef Hogervorst, Professor of Biological Psychology, Loughborough University; Ahmet Begde, PhD Candidate, Neurorehabilitation, Loughborough University, and Thom Wilcockson, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Loughborough University.
The findings of the study was published in Scientific Reports.