Overview

• DZNE-led research published in Science Advances evaluated path integration in 102 adults aged 55–89, including 30 with subjective cognitive decline.
• Participants navigated a featureless virtual plain by following a floating ball, then indicated the start location and re-established their original facing direction.
• Although all scored within normal ranges on conventional cognitive tests, those with SCD made larger orientation errors driven by cognitive rather than movement factors.
• Mathematical modeling identified a “memory leak,” a difficulty retaining a history of past positions needed to update location, as the primary error source in SCD.
• The team suspects entorhinal grid-cell involvement and will simplify the task, compare performance with blood or CSF biomarkers, and assess utility in trials before clinical use.