Increased variability in reaction time is associated with amyloid beta pathology at age 70

Abstract

Introduction: We investigated whether life-course factors and neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease pathology predict reaction time (RT) performance in older adults. Methods: Insight 46 study participants, all born in the same week in 1946 (n = 501; ages at assessment = 69 to 71 years), completed a 2-choice RT task and amyloid beta (Aβ) positron emission tomography and MR imaging. We tested for associations between task outcomes (RT; error rate; intra-individual variability in RT) and life-course predictors including childhood cognitive ability and education. In a subsample of 406 cognitively normal participants, we investigated associations between task outcomes and biomarkers including Aβ-positivity. Results: Cognitively normal Aβ-positive participants had 10% more variable RTs than Aβ-negative participants, despite having similar mean RTs. Childhood cognitive ability and education independently predicted task performance. Discussion: This study provides novel evidence that Aβ pathology is associated with poorer consistency of RT in cognitively normal older adults, at an age when dementia prevalence is still very low.