Medical professionals might be able identify early dementia by showing their patient a picture of Bill Gates.
Researchers conducted a new test to pinpoint early stages of Alzheimer's and dementia. The results were related to the patients' ability to recognize well-known faces, a Northwestern University press release reported.
"These tests also differentiate between recognizing a face and actually naming it, which can help identify the specific type of cognitive impairment a person has," study lead author Tamar Gefen, a doctoral candidate in neuropsychology at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said.
The researchers observed 30 patients with primary progressive aphasia ("a type of early onset dementia that mainly affects language") and 27 patients that did not have a degenerative mental disorder.
The study focused on patients between the ages of 40 and 65, current facial recognition tests are mostly outdated and cater to an older crowd.
"The famous faces for this study were specifically chosen for their relevance to individuals under age 65, so that the test may be useful for diagnosing dementia in younger individuals, Emily Rogalski, assistant research professor at Northwestern's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, said.
Patients were awarded points for every face they correctly identified. If they knew who the celebrity of famous figure was but could not think of the name the patients were asked to provide information about the person. The participants gained points if they could provide at least two relevant details, even if the name escaped them.
In addition to the pictures of famous face, the study used "quantitative software to analyze MRI brain scans" of the individuals that had participated in the research.
The patients with primary progressive aphasia had much lower scores than those with normal brain function. The healthy participants received an average score of "97 percent in recognition and 93 percent on naming," aphasia patients scored an average of 79 and 46 respectively.
"In addition to its practical value in helping us identify people with early dementia, this test also may help us understand how the brain works to remember and retrieve its knowledge of words and objects," Gefen said.
Famous figures used in the study included: "John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul II, Liza Minnelli, George W. Bush, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton, Sammy Davis Jr., Princess Diana, Bill Gates, Winston Churchill, Humphrey Bogart, Lucille Ball, Condoleezza Rice, Ronald Reagan, Oprah Winfrey, Queen Elizabeth II, and Muhammad Ali," USA Today reported.
