The Effect of Task-Irrelevant Fearful-Face Distractor on Working Memory Processing in Mild Cognitive Impairment versus Healthy Controls: An Exploratory fMRI Study in Female Participants

Table 1

Participants demographic and clinical data.

	MCI		HC		Comments
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age	72.7	9.3	65.8	6.5	ns ()
Education	10.5	0.8	10.7	2.2	ns
GDS-15	2.6	2.7	2	1.8	ns
MoCA	22.2	2.5	26.7	1.8
Meds	1.8	0.78	1.5	0.8	ns
CDR	0.5		0		Clinical classification

SD: standard deviation; GDS: geriatric depression scale, 15 items; MoCA: Montreal Cognitive Assessment; CDR: Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (a score of 0 indicates normal status, 0.5 indicates MCI status, and 1–3 indicate mild, moderate, and severe dementia (Morris, 1993 [67])). Meds were prescribed by family physician and included antihypertensive and lipid lowering agents, small dose acetyl salicylic acid, and vitamins; one participant from each group was on small dose selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor for “minor mood symptoms,” and none of the participants were on cognitive enhancers. Comparisons were made using -test, 2-tailed, 2-sample unequal variance.