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This Vision Test Can Predict Your Dementia 12 Years Before Diagnosis, Study Says

Researchers found that eye movement and visual sensitivity are interextricably connected to memory function in the brain.
PUBLISHED NOV 29, 2024
(L) Man holding a magnifying glass close to his eye. (R) Doctor explaining brain scan to an elderly patient. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Knape, (R) Halfpoint Images)
(L) Man holding a magnifying glass close to his eye. (R) Doctor explaining brain scan to an elderly patient. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Knape, (R) Halfpoint Images)

Eyes are the windows into memory. When a person sees something with their eyes, it isn’t just the sensory visual material they process, it's also the memories they encode in their brains. Our eye muscles send electrical signals to the brain, which combs through its connections to retrieve memories. Naturally, a person’s visual sense can say a lot about their memory function too. In a recent study published in the Scientific Reports, Eef Hogervorst, Professor of Biological Psychology at Loughborough University, and her fellow researchers revealed how one’s eyes can predict whether one will suffer from dementia 12 years before it is diagnosed.

A close-up image of the eyes of an old woman. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Image Source)
A close-up image of the eyes of an old woman. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Image Source)

According to the National Institute on Aging, dementia is “a brain condition that causes a loss of cognitive functioning, such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning, that interferes with daily life.” Dementia is an umbrella term for several diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common type of memory dysfunction that causes a slow memory decline. In the latest study, Hogervorst deduced that problems with eyes or loss of eye sensitivity are early signs of cognitive decline or loss of memory power.

A senior woman and her mature daughter at home in Seghill, Northumberland. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by SolStock)
A senior woman and her mature daughter at home in Seghill, Northumberland. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by SolStock)

“Visual issues may be an early indicator of cognitive decline,” the researchers wrote in The Conversation, “as the toxic amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease may first affect areas of the brain associated with vision with parts of the brain associated with memory becoming damaged as the disease progresses. So vision tests may find deficits before memory tests do.” They added that the condition also affects sensitivity towards seeing outlines of objects and discerning between different colors. Recognizing faces also becomes challenging.

A senior man squinting his eyes while looking at his phone. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | )
A senior man squinting his eyes while looking at his phone. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Prostock Studio)

To carry out the study, the researchers experimented on 8,623 healthy people in Norfolk, England. They had followed up with them for several years. They asked the participants to take a visual sensitivity test. They gave them a field of moving dots and asked them to press a button as soon as they spotted a triangle in the field. By the end of the study, 537 people were diagnosed with dementia and they were slower to see the triangle than people who weren’t diagnosed with the disease.

Elderly woman sitting on her bed holding her head. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Halfpoint Images)
Elderly woman sitting on her bed holding her head. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Halfpoint Images)

So if eyes are so intricately connected to memory function, can an improvement in eyes promote memory improvement too? Probably yes, it seems. According to psychologists Andrew Parker and Neil Dagnall, wiggling one’s eyes from side to side can help improve memory. "Bilateral eye movements appear to enhance true memory and decrease the extent to which subjects rely on or make use of gist-based false memory", the researchers noted. Sometimes known as “eye movement desensitization and reprocessing,” this wiggling exercise is actually a type of therapy for trauma, based on the connection between eye movement and memory.

Eyes close up (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Abhishek Mehta)
Eyes close up (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Abhishek Mehta)

However, the results of this therapy are still considered controversial among psychologists and researchers. Hogervorst noted that despite these exciting findings, “treatment for memory problems using deliberate eye movements in older people has not been done that much yet. Also, using deficits in eye movements as a diagnostic is not a regular feature, despite the possibilities in eye movement technology.” Still and all, it doesn’t take much to practice this wiggling exercise regularly, bring those painful memories alive, and heal the mind.

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