Home › Research › Cognitive tests and assessment
Smartphone-based detection of subtle memory decline in prodromal Alzheimer's disease
Sarah E Polk, Lindsay R Clark, Kristin Basche, Luca Kleineidam, Wenzel Glanz, Michaela Butryn, Robert Perneczky, Katharina Buerger et al.. NPJ digital medicine, 2026-06-10
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
The slow progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) poses a challenge for the quantification of early disease-driven cognitive decline. Here, we show that frequently administered remote and unsupervised digital cognitive assessments can detect differences in cognitive decline within 30 weeks in early AD. The sample comprised 202 individuals (52-85 years old) recruited from longitudinal observational studies, who were cognitively unimpaired (CU, n = 152) or had a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 50). Participants self-administered remote tasks testing memory precision for objects and scenes, associative memory, and familiarity-dependent memory. The MCI group showed greater decline than the CU group in the familiarity-dependent task, while stratifying the MCI group by beta-amyloid (Aβ) status (n = 21 Aβ-; n = 24 Aβ+) revealed greater change in memory precision for objects and familiarity-dependent memory in the MCI Aβ+ group. A 30-week change in the remote familiarity-dependent task was correlated with a multi-year change in annual in-person neuropsychological assessments. In conclusion, frequent remote cognitive testing is a promising tool to feasibly capture and monitor subtle and short-term cognitive decline.
Key findings
- The MCI group showed greater decline than the CU group in the familiarity-dependent task, while stratifying the MCI group by beta-amyloid (Aβ) status (n = 21 Aβ-; n = 24 Aβ+) revealed greater change in memory precision for objects and familiarity-dependent memory in the MCI Aβ+ group.
- In conclusion, frequent remote cognitive testing is a promising tool to feasibly capture and monitor subtle and short-term cognitive decline.
Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Participants152
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 70/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 39 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 70 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (NPJ digital medicine) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 152 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 42270927) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 39 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 39 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 70 out of 100. |
| Total | 70 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Polk, S. E., Clark, L. R., Basche, K., Kleineidam, L., Glanz, W., Butryn, M., et al. (2026). Smartphone-based detection of subtle memory decline in prodromal Alzheimer's disease. NPJ digital medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02731-1
Vancouver
Polk SE, Clark LR, Basche K, Kleineidam L, Glanz W, Butryn M, et al. Smartphone-based detection of subtle memory decline in prodromal Alzheimer's disease. NPJ digital medicine. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41746-026-02731-1. PMID: 42270927.
BibTeX
@article{polk2026-42270927,
author = {Polk, Sarah E and Clark, Lindsay R and Basche, Kristin and Kleineidam, Luca and Glanz, Wenzel and Butryn, Michaela and Perneczky, Robert and Buerger, Katharina and others},
title = {{Smartphone-based detection of subtle memory decline in prodromal Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {NPJ digital medicine},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1038/s41746-026-02731-1},
pmid = {42270927},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02731-1}
}
Related studies in Cognitive tests and assessment
Also tagged “computerized”
238 studies in the library carry the topic tag “computerized”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 238 tagged studies.