The new research focused on people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition charatcterized by minor but noticeable memory and cognitive problems.

"We wanted to investigate," says Lead study author Dr. Ali Mazaheri, of the University of Birmingham, "if there were anomalies in brain activity during language processing in MCI patients which could provide insight into their likelihood of developing Alzheimer's."

"We focused on language functioning, since it is a crucial aspect of cognition and particularly impacted during the progressive stages of Alzheimer's," he explains.

Although memory-related difficulties in patients with MCI are not as serious as those in people with Alzheimer's disease, most people with MCI do go on to develop this form of dementia.

In fact, the National Institute on Aging estimate that 8 in 10 people with MCI are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease within 7 years of their MCI diagnosis. But what goes on in the brain between being diagnosed with MCI and being diagnosed with Alzheimer's?

Researchers from the University of Birmingham, the University of Kent — both in the United Kingdom — and the University of California, Davis set out to investigate this in their new study.

Dr. Ali Mazaheri added, "A prominent feature of Alzheimer's is a progressive decline in language; however, the ability to process language in the period between the appearance of initial symptoms of Alzheimer's to its full development has scarcely previously been investigated."

Brain response to words may be 'crucial'

Previous studies have shown that it takes the brain of an average person 250 milliseconds to process a written word. The brain activity associated with word processing can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG), which is a procedure that measures the electrical activity of one's brain by placing tiny electrodes on the scalp.

For the current research, Dr. Mazaheri and his colleagues used an EEG to study the brain activity of 25 participants while they were shown words on a computer screen.

Read more at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319795.php