Background/Objectives: Several studies have reported cognitive decline and alterations in neural substrates among non-cognitively impaired direct descendants of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Visuospatial incidental memory declines early in adulthood and may serve as a sensitive tool to detect preclinical deterioration in this vulnerable population. To test this, we characterized the incidental/intentional visuospatial memory of cognitively healthy middle-aged (35–55) descendants of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Methods: Male and female first-degree descendants of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (n = 55, group DAD) and participants without familial ancestry of the disease (n = 55, group NoDAD) were included. Incidental/intentional visuospatial memory was assessed, and the number of correct object–position associations was recorded to classify the participants by accuracy under incidental (4–8, high accuracy) and intentional (6–8, high accuracy) coding conditions. Comparisons with regard to between-group scores and frequency distribution were conducted. A mixed-model design analysis was employed to assess the impacts of the variables on accuracy. Results: DAD participants made fewer correct object–position associations than NoDAD under both incidental and intentional coding conditions. In addition, the percentage of NoDAD participants with a high accuracy in both incidental and intentional coding was higher (56.36%) than that for DAD participants (21.81%). A high percentage (36.364%) of DAD participants likewise showed a lower accuracy under both incidental and intentional coding conditions when compared to the NoDAD group (16.364%). Additionally, a marginally significant negative correlation between the number of correct object–position associations and age was found in DAD participants (r = −0.234, p = 0.054). Conclusions: The present results indicate an impairment in visuospatial incidental/intentional performance related to the familial history of AD, which was seen earlier (35–55 years old, mean age 43.12) in adulthood.
Álvarez-Huante et al. (Fri,) studied this question.