Author(s)

Lihong Zhang ^1,2

Affiliation(s)

¹ Homerton College University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
² Dalian University of Technology Affiliated Central Hospital (Dalian Central Hospital), Dalian, Liaoning, 116033, China

Corresponding Author

Lihong Zhang

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyse the association between neuropsychological characteristics and imaging findings in patients with vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), and to examine clinical research developments concerning this condition between January and December 2025. For the method, we included 100 patients diagnosed with VCI in a prospective cohort study. All subjects underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment (including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, executive function tests, memory and attention tests, etc.) alongside multimodal neuroimaging examinations  (such as 3T magnetic resonance structural imaging( MRI), diffusion tensor imaging, and resting-state functional MRI); as a result, neuropsychological assessments revealed that patients with VCI generally exhibited significant impairments in executive functions (such as planning and task-switching abilities) and attention, while episodic memory deficits were relatively mild. Imaging analyses indicated that the volume of high signal intensity in white matter was strongly correlated with reduced executive function (r = -0.72, p < 0.01), and decreased connectivity within the default mode network was associated with lower overall cognitive scores (r = 0.65, p < 0.05). Concurrently, the number of subcortical small vessel lesions (e.g., lacunar infarcts) was significantly associated with slowed information processing speed. Furthermore, subgroup analysis indicated that patients with cerebral microbleeds demonstrated poorer performance on complex tasks. In a conclusion, this study confirms that the neuropsychological deficit pattern of VCI centres on the executive-attention domain, with its severity closely correlated to specific imaging markers (such as white matter lesions and abnormal network connectivity). It underscores the value of multimodal assessment in early identification and mechanism elucidation, providing an evidence base for imaging-cognition associations that will inform future targeted interventions.

KEYWORDS

Vascular Cognitive Impairment; Neuropsychology; Imaging Manifestations

CITE THIS PAPER

Lihong Zhang. Research Progress on Neuropsychological and Imaging Manifestations of Vascular Cognitive Impairment. Advances in Educational Technology and Psychology (2026). Vol. 10, No. 1, 45-52. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/aetp.2026.100106.

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