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CEE: Color Expanse Examination

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Alexandra Rieger

Alexandra Rieger

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The CEE (Color Expanse Examination) system is an explorative approach to evaluating human color acuity. Color perception is shaped and altered by cultural development, ocular conditions, as well as neurological health. Human ability to differentiate and identify color can also be an indicator of wellbeing ranging from emotional status to Alzheimer’s Disease progression. In Alzheimer's, some of the most significant early changes occur in color vision. In spite of this, color testing is rarely included in cognitive baseline examinations.

Color perception testing could provide early indicators of neurological change. 

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Alexandra Rieger

 In 2017, Salobrar-Garcia performed an assessment of the visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color vision, and visual integration in the Alzheimer's disease progression according to the scale GDS. This study was conducted with 38 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease as well as a control base. Patients with mild Alzheimer’s revealed a drastic decrease in visual acuity, spatial based contrast sensitivity (“the higher the spatial frequency, the greater the loss of CS perception”), and lowered ability to see blue-toned colors. Although patients with moderate Alzheimer’s exhibited far greater cognitive decline, their performance on the named tests was congruent to the participants with mild Alzheimer’s. According to this study (Garcia, 2017) “a significant increase of the total number of errors in the color test (p < 0.05)” was recorded in all instances. No notable differences were noted between the mild and moderate groups for visual acuity, contrast sensitivity. Results reveal that visual tests are a good early marker for Alzheimer’s. 

The CEE (Color Expanse Examination) combines an automated, portable testing system featuring an interactive response module with indicator light. 

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Alexandra Rieger

In taking a multimodal and multisensory approach to the treatment and study of Alzheimer's disease it is important to consider the role of Alzheimer’s in art. The most known case of an artist with Alzheimer’s is painter William Utermohlen. When diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Utermohlen began to track his illness and the toll it took on his perception and his self-image through portraiture. Beyond the drastic alterations in stroke, rendering, shading, perhaps the most noticeable change is the depletion of color in his paintings. This is likely linked to the fact that, “AD patients, show alterations in the M, P, and K visual pathways. Psychophysical tests could be useful tools to diagnose support and follow-up in mild AD” (Garcia, 2017).

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Citation: William Untermohlen