Abstract
Background: Feature binding is a sensitive and specific cognitive marker for
Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment
(MCI) are clinical categories associated with an increased risk for AD.
Objective: To investigate whether the SCD and MCI group are impaired with
regard to feature binding.
Methods: The feature binding test was administered to memory clinic patients
with either SCD (n = 19, mean MMSE: 29.2) or with MCI
(n = 23, mean MMSE: 26.5), and to a group of healthy controls (HC,
n = 23, mean MMSE: 29.0). Participants were assessed with the CERAD
Plus neuropsychological test battery. Cognitive performance of the three groups was
compared by ANCOVA with age, gender and education as covariates and planned contrasts.
Results: Groups differed in the binding condition. Planned contrasts showed
significant differences in adjusted means between HC and SCD (p = 0.003),
as well as between HC and MCI (p < 0.0001).
Discussion: The feature binding task detects subtle cognitive impairments in
participants with SCD, who are unimpaired in traditional neuropsychological testing. This
corroborates the use of feature binding tests in preclinical AD studies and suggests that
specific cognitive deficits can be found in SCD. Future studies incorporating AD
biomarkers and longitudinal follow-up are needed to further establish the clinical utility
of feature binding.
