Cambridge Cognition, provider of CANTAB®, the world's leading neuropsychological tests developed by professors at the University of Cambridge, has published preliminary data in collaboration with Cambridge University, at the ICAD conference in Hawaii that demonstrates a clear link between factors such as sex and education level and memory function. These important findings may help scientists to further understand the causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias and potentially to detect the earliest signs of dementia more accurately.

The study, which is still taking place, re-surveyed 4407 men and women from East Anglia, who were originally recruited in 1993-1997 for the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer in Norfolk (EPIC Norfolk) supported by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and Research Into Ageing. The cognitive and physical functional performance of each participant (currently aged between 48 and 90 years) was assessed using the computerised CANTAB Paired Associates Learning (PAL) test. Previous studies have demonstrated the utility of CANTAB PAL in the detection of early AD.

The preliminary results give a strong indication that women's memories function better than men, with women making an average of 5.9 fewer errors on a specific test of memory than men. This clear difference remains unchanged when allowing for education and age corrections.

Interestingly, education also seems to play a significant role in influencing cognitive function. Participants who had left education after the age of 18 years made an average of 20 fewer total errors than those who left education before the age of 16.

Dr Andrew Blackwell, Chief Scientific Officer at Cambridge Cognition and Honorary Visiting Research Associate at the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry says:

"Although the links between sex and education and cognitive function have been explored before, this very large dataset provides striking evidence that these factors play a major role in determining how good our memory function is as we age. Using these data, we can determine whether or not an individual's memory function is normal or not for people of their age, sex and education level.

"A body of scientific literature has demonstrated that women typically outperform men on test of verbal function, whereas men tend to outperform women on tasks of spatial function. However, in this study, we used a measure of memory that is spatial and women consistently outperformed men. There are many possible explanations for this, including both neurobiological and environmental differences."

The initial survey has illustrated the considerable impact of sociodemographic factors on late-life memory performance in the general population. In addition they demonstrate the feasibility of computerised cognitive assessment in large-scale long term studies. The scientists at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Cognition are next planning to conduct further analyses that will explore the correlation between lifestyle and health factors and memory performance. It is estimated that the total EPIC sample will reach approximately 10,000 assessments by the end of the study.

About the CANTAB Tests

Grounded in the neurosciences, the CANTAB® neuropsychological tests were developed more than 21 years ago at the University of Cambridge by Professors Robbins and Sahakian, to enable detailed translational assessment and evaluation of cognitive function. Lesion, neuroimaging, clinical and psychopharmacological studies have enabled a unique understanding of the structural, clinical and biochemical sensitivities of each of the tests.

CANTAB commercialised as Cambridge Cognition in 1994 and has become the world leader in computerised cognitive testing in its field. It has been used by more than 500 academic institutions worldwide and quoted in over 600 scientific papers. This immense body of work stretching back over the last 21+ years gives CANTAB an unrivalled scientific heritage and degree of validation.

Source: Cambridge Cognition