Contribution of temporal preparation and processing speed to simple reaction time in persons with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

Temporal preparation was assessed in 15 Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, 20 persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 28 healthy older adults. Participants completed a simple reaction time task in which the preparatory interval duration varied randomly within two blocks (short versus long temporal window). Results indicated that AD and MCI patients had difficulty preparing for the shortest preparatory interval of the short temporal window. AD and MCI patients also had difficulty maintaining an optimal level of preparation up to 5 s within the short temporal window. These results suggest that AD and MCI patients might show difficulty preparing for rapidly occurring events and maintaining preparation over time. This phenomenon should be considered when using reaction time measures with such patients.