The Utility of Tactile and Learning-Recognition Tasks to Detect Mild Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in older adults and may progress to Alzheimer disease. Accessible behavioral measures are needed to identify subtle cognitive changes; tactile tasks may provide a low-cost approach. Objective: To examine whether tactile cognitive tasks can differentiate between older adults with MCI and healthy controls (HC), and to explore whether processing related to working memory may contribute to tactile task deficits. Methods: We recruited two independent cohorts of older adults. Cohort 1 completed a tactile angle size comparison task and a tactile angle sequencing task, while Cohort 2 completed a visual learning-recognition task. We analyzed group differences while controlling for age, sex, years of education, and scores on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Hamilton Depression Scale. We then calculated signal detection indices for the learning-recognition task. Results: After covariate adjustment, the tactile angle size comparison task did not show a significant group difference ( p =0.388). The tactile angle sequencing task significantly distinguished individuals with MCI from HC ( p <0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analyses showed acceptable-to-good discriminatory performance for the tactile tasks, with stronger performance for the sequencing task. In the learning-recognition task, individuals with MCI showed reduced discrimination sensitivity indexed by d ′. Conclusion: Tactile sequencing performance appears more sensitive to MCI-related impairment than simple tactile angle comparison. These findings suggest that complex tactile deficits in MCI may be partly associated with working-memory–related processing.