Neuropsychological and neuroanatomical underpinnings of the face pareidolia errors on the noise pareidolia test in patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia due to Lewy bodies

ABSTRACT

Objective

Prior research on the Noise Pareidolia Test (NPT) has demonstrated its clinical utility in detecting patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia due to Lewy Body Disease (LBD). However, few studies to date have investigated the neuropsychological factors underlying pareidolia errors on the NPT across the clinical spectrum of LBD. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no research has examined the relationship between cortical thickness using MRI data and NPT subscores. As such, this study sought to explore the neuropsychological and neuroanatomical factors influencing performance on the NPT utilizing the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Lewy Body Dementia Module.

Methods

Our sample included participants with normal cognition (NC; n = 56), LBD with mild cognitive impairment (LBD-MCI; n = 97), and LBD with dementia (LBD-Dementia; n = 94). Archival data from NACC were retrospectively analyzed for group differences in neuropsychological test scores and cognitive and psychiatric predictors of NPT scores. Clinicoradiological correlates between NPT subscores and a small subsample of the above LBD participants were also examined.

Results

Analyses revealed significant differences in NPT scores among groups. Regression analysis demonstrated that dementia severity, attention, and visuospatial processing contributed approximately 24% of NPT performance in LBD groups. Clinicoradiological analysis suggests a potential contribution of the right fusiform gyrus, but not the inferior occipital gyrus, to NPT pareidolia error scores.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the interplay of attention and visuoperceptual functions in complex pareidolia in LBD. Further investigation is needed to refine the utility of NPT scores in clinical settings, including identifying patients at risk for visual illusions and hallucinations.

KEYWORDS:

• Noise pareidolia test
• face pareidolia
• Lewy body disease
• fusiform gyrus
• visual hallucinations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The NACC database is funded by NIA/NIH Grant U24 AG072122. NACC data are contributed by the NIA-funded ADRCs: P30 AG019610 (PI Eric Reiman, MD), P30 AG013846 (PI Neil Kowall, MD), P50 AG008702 (PI Scott Small, MD), P50 AG025688 (PI Allan Levey, MD, PhD), P50 AG047266 (PI Todd Golde, MD, PhD), P30 AG010133 (PI Andrew Saykin, PsyD), P50 AG005146 (PI Marilyn Albert, PhD), P50 AG005134 (PI Bradley Hyman, MD, PhD), P50 AG016574 (PI Ronald Petersen, MD, PhD), P50 AG005138 (PI Mary Sano, PhD), P30 AG008051 (PI Thomas Wisniewski, MD), P30 AG013854 (PI Robert Vassar, PhD), P30 AG008017 (PI Jeffrey Kaye, MD), P30 AG010161 (PI David Bennett, MD), P50 AG047366 (PI Victor Henderson, MD, MS), P30 AG010129 (PI Charles DeCarli, MD), P50 AG016573 (PI Frank LaFerla, PhD), P50 AG005131 (PI James Brewer, MD, PhD), P50 AG023501 (PI Bruce Miller, MD), P30 AG035982 (PI Russell Swerdlow, MD), P30 AG028383 (PI Linda Van Eldik, PhD), P30 AG053760 (PI Henry Paulson, MD, PhD), P30 AG010124 (PI John Trojanowski, MD, PhD), P50 AG005133 (PI Oscar Lopez, MD), P50 AG005142 (PI Helena Chui, MD), P30 AG012300 (PI Roger Rosenberg, MD), P30 AG049638 (PI Suzanne Craft, PhD), P50 AG005136 (PI Thomas Grabowski, MD), P50 AG033514 (PI Sanjay Asthana, MD, FRCP), P50 AG005681 (PI John Morris, MD), P50 AG047270 (PI Stephen Strittmatter, MD, PhD).