Reaction Time Intraindividual Variability Reveals Inhibitory Deficits in Single- and Multiple-Domain Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a prodromal stage of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, is characterized by episodic memory impairment. Recent evidence has shown inhibitory control deficits in aMCI, but the extent of these deficits across inhibitory domains (i.e., response inhibition and interference control) and aMCI subtypes (i.e., single vs multiple domain) remains unclear. Few studies have included reaction time intraindividual variability (RT IIV) in these efforts. The aim of this study was to compare response inhibition and interference control between aMCI subtypes using measures of accuracy, mean RT, and RT IIV. Methods We report data from 34 individuals with single-domain aMCI (sdaMCI, 66–86 years), 20 individuals with multiple-domain aMCI (mdaMCI, 68–88 years), and 52 healthy controls (HC, 64–88 years) who completed tasks of response inhibition (Go–NoGo) and interference control (Flanker). Group differences in accuracy, mean RT, and RT IIV were examined for both tasks. Results Individuals with mdaMCI had higher RT IIV than the other groups on both tasks. In RT IIV, we observed an interference control deficit in mdaMCI and sdaMCI relative to healthy controls, a finding not observed through accuracy or mean RT. Discussion RT IIV may detect subtle differences in inhibition deficits between aMCI subtypes that may not be evident with conventional behavioral measures. Findings support the supplementary use of RT IIV when assessing early executive function deficits.