Alzheimer’s patients have trouble seeing contrast, which can make it difficult to see, for example, exactly where one stair ends and the next begins. Scientists think the deficit is related to the same pathology that destroys patients’ memory. Now, doctors are working on ways to help patients deal with this deficit and improve their ability to handle some basic requirements of daily living, the Boston Globe reports.
Researchers have conducted a series of experiments showing that increasing the visual contrast in certain tasks has an impact on Alzheimer’s patients’ behaviors. For instance, by placing food on a red plate, people with Alzheimer’s ate more. And by increasing the contrast in a task that required identify letters, on which Alzheimer’s patients usually perform more poorly than those without the disease, the difference in recognizing letters disappeared.
“Let’s say you put keys down on the counter and can’t find them. People say, ‘Of course she can’t find them – she has Alzheimer’s.’ Well, what if she can’t see them?’” Alice Cronin-Golomb, a BU psychology professor and who has studied vision in Alzheimer’s disease, told the Boston Globe.
Realizing the difficulties patients may have with vision could allow family members to make small changes that make it easier for patients to get around. For instance, they may be less likely to bump into furniture by placing a white tablecloth on it to increase contrast, notes the Globe.From: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/08/10/vision-problems-may-make-alzheimers-worse/
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