Memory precision of object-location binding is unimpaired in APOE ε4-carriers with spatial navigation deficits

Abstract

Research suggests that tests of memory fidelity, feature binding and spatial navigation are promising for early detection of subtle behavioural changes related to Alzheimers disease (AD). In the absence of longitudinal data, one way of testing the early detection potential of cognitive tasks is through the comparison of individuals at different genetic risk for AD. Most studies have done so using samples aged 70 years or older. Here, we tested whether memory fidelity of long-term object-location binding may be a sensitive marker even among cognitively healthy individuals in their mid-60s by comparing participants at low and higher risk based on presence of the {varepsilon}4-allele of the apolipoprotein gene (n=26 {varepsilon}3{varepsilon}3, n=20 {varepsilon}3{varepsilon}4 carriers). We used a continuous report paradigm in a visual memory task that required participants to recreate the spatial position of objects in a scene. We employed mixture modelling to estimate the two distinct memory processes that underpin the trial-by-trial variation in localisation errors: retrieval success which indexes the proportion of trials where participants recalled any information about an objects position and the precision with which participants retrieved this information. Prior work has shown that these memory paradigms that separate retrieval success from precision are capable of detecting subtle differences in mnemonic fidelity even when retrieval success could not. Nonetheless, a Bayesian analysis found good evidence that {varepsilon}3{varepsilon}4 carriers did not remember fewer object locations (F(1, 42)=.450, p=.506, BF01 =3.02), nor was their precision for the spatial position of objects reduced compared to {varepsilon}3{varepsilon}3 carriers (F(1, 42)=.12, p=.726, BF01 =3.19). Because the participants in the sample presented here were a subset of a study on APOE effects on spatial navigation in the Sea Hero Quest game (Coughlan et al., 2019. PNAS, 116(9)), we obtained these data to contrast APOE effects on the two tasks within the same sample (n=33). Despite the smaller sample size, wayfinding deficits among {varepsilon}3{varepsilon}4 could be replicated (F(1, 33) =5.60, p=.024, BF10 =3.44). Object-location memory metrics and spatial navigation scores were not correlated (all r<.25, p>.1, 0<BF10 <3). These findings show spared object-location binding in the presence of a detrimental APOE {varepsilon}4 effect on spatial navigation. This suggests that the sensitivity of memory fidelity and binding tasks may not extend to individuals with one {varepsilon}4-allele in their early to mid-60s. The results provide further support to prior proposals that spatial navigation may be a sensitive marker for the earliest AD-dependent cognitive changes, even before episodic memory.