Naturalistic assessment of everyday functioning in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: the day-out task

Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe; Courtney McAlister; Alyssa Weakley

doi:10.1037/a0029352

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Naturalistic assessment of everyday functioning in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: the day-out task

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Naturalistic assessment of everyday functioning in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: the day-out task

Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe, Courtney McAlister and Alyssa Weakley

Neuropsychology, Vol.26(5), pp.631-641

09/2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029352

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/103902

PMCID: PMC3546511

PMID: 22846035

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Abstract

Reproducibility of Results

Humans

Middle Aged

Male

Executive Function - physiology

Psychomotor Performance - physiology

Activities of Daily Living

Neuropsychological Tests

Regression Analysis

Cognition - physiology

Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology

Female

Aged

Memory - physiology

The day-out task (DOT), a naturalistic task that requires multitasking in a real-world setting, was used to examine everyday functioning in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Thirty-eight participants with MCI and 38 cognitively healthy older adult controls prioritized, organized, initiated, and completed a number of subtasks in a campus apartment to prepare for a day out (e.g., determine and gather change for bus, bring a magazine). Participants also completed tests assessing cognitive constructs important in multitasking (i.e., retrospective memory, prospective memory, planning). As compared with controls, the MCI group required more time to complete the DOT and demonstrated poorer task accuracy, performing more subtasks incompletely and inaccurately. Despite poorer DOT task accuracy, the MCI and control groups approached completion of the DOT in a similar manner. For the MCI group, retrospective memory was a unique predictor of the number of subtasks left incomplete and inaccurate, while prospective memory was a unique predictor of DOT sequencing. The DOT measures, but not the cognitive tests, were predictive of knowledgeable informant report of everyday functioning. THESE findings suggest that difficulty remembering and keeping track of multiple goals and subgoals may contribute to the poorer performance of individuals with MCI in complex everyday situations.

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Title: Naturalistic assessment of everyday functioning in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: the day-out task
Creators: Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe - Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-4820, USA. schmitter-e@wsu.edu
Courtney McAlister
Alyssa Weakley
Publication Details: Neuropsychology, Vol.26(5), pp.631-641
Academic Unit: Psychology, Department of
Publisher: United States
Grant note: R01 EB009675 / NIBIB NIH HHS R01 EB015853 / NIBIB NIH HHS
Identifiers: 99900546689101842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article