MAPT and Mental deterioration: Specifically, post-mortem assessments in AD patients found that a more pronounced neocortical and hippocampal-sparing pattern of neurofibrillary tau tangle pathology is associated with younger age at symptom onset and faster ante-mortem cognitive decline, whereas a spatially more restricted limbic-predominant pattern of neurofibrillary tau tangles was associated with older age at symptom onset and slower ante-mortem cognitive decline10.