Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T14:49:08.149Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Subject-performed tasks improve associative learning in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2006

STELLA KARANTZOULIS ,
JILL B. RICH  and
JENNIFER A. MANGELS
STELLA KARANTZOULIS
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
JILL B. RICH
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Department of Psychology, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
JENNIFER A. MANGELS
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Subject-performed tasks (SPTs) may facilitate the deficit in associative learning among individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) by inducing episodic integration of object-action associations. To test this hypothesis, we examined free recall and recognition memory following enactment and verbal encoding in healthy elderly controls and individuals with aMCI. Study lists contained either semantically integrated (“Bounce the ball”) or crossed object-action commands, in which episodic and semantic associations were placed in opposition (“Pet the compass”). Associative learning was indeed better after SPT than verbal encoding and with integrated relative to crossed lists for the aMCI group, as it was for controls. Moreover, the degree to which SPTs reduced the semantic interference inherent in the crossed conditions was equivalent for the two groups. The results showed that enactment facilitates formation of episodic associations, even when not supported by preexisting semantic knowledge, and even among individuals who have particular difficulty forming new associations (JINS, 2006, 12, 493–501.)

Keywords

Mild cognitive impairmentAssociative learningSubject-performed testsMemorySemantic interference
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , July 2006 , pp. 493 - 501
Copyright
© 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amieva, H., Rouch-Leroyer, I., Fabrigoule, C., & Dartigues, J.F. (2000). Deterioration of controlled processes in the preclinical phase of dementia: A confirmatory analysis. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 11, 46–52.Google Scholar
Bäckman, L. & Nilsson, L.G. (1984). Aging effects in free recall: An exception to the rule. Human Learning, 4, 53–69.Google Scholar
Bäckman, L. & Nilsson, L.G. (1985). Prerequisites for lack of age differences in memory performance. Experimental Aging Research, 11, 67–73.Google Scholar
Braak, H., Braak, E., & Bohl, J. (1993). Staging of Alzheimer-related cortical destruction. European Neurology, 33, 403–408.Google Scholar
Brandt, J., Spencer, M., & Folstein, M. (1988). The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 1, 111–117.Google Scholar
Cohen, R.L. (1981). On the generality of some memory laws. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 22, 267–282.Google Scholar
Cohen, R.L. & Stewart, M. (1982). How to avoid developmental effects in free recall. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 23, 9–16.Google Scholar
Collie, A. & Maruff, P. (2000). The neuropsychology of preclinical Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 24, 365–374.Google Scholar
Collie, A., Myers, C., Schnirman, G., Wood, S., & Maruff, P. (2002). Selectively impaired associative learning in older people with cognitive decline. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 484–492.Google Scholar
Comalli, P.E., Wapner, S., & Werner, H. (1962). Interference effects of Stroop colour-word test in childhood, adulthood, and aging. Journal of General Psychology, 100, 47–53.Google Scholar
Crook, III, T.H. & Larrabee, G.J. (1992). A self-rating scale for evaluating memory in everyday life. Psychology and Aging, 5, 48–57.Google Scholar
Daprati, E., Nico, D., Saimpont, A., Franck, N., & Sirigu, A. (2005). Memory and action: An experimental study on normal subjects and schizophrenic patients. Neuropsychologia, 43, 281–293.Google Scholar
Engelkamp, J. & Zimmer, H. (1984). Motor program information as a separable memory unit. Psychological Research, 46, 283–299.Google Scholar
Engelkamp, J. & Zimmer, H. (1985). Motor programs and their relation to semantic memory. German Journal of Psychology, 9, 239–254.Google Scholar
Engelkamp, J. & Zimmer, H.D. (2002). Free recall and organization as a function of varying relational encoding in action memory. Psychological Research, 66, 91–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, K.S., Sailing, M.M., Conway, E.L., Semple, J.M., & Louis, W.J. (1997). Computerized neuropsychological tests in the early detection of dementia: Prospective findings. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 3, 139–146.Google Scholar
Hasslemo, M.E. & Wyble, B.P. (1997). Free recall and recognition in a network model of the hippocampus. Behavioral Brain Research, 89, 1–34.Google Scholar
Herlitz, A., Adolfsson, R., Bäckman, L., & Nilsson, L.G. (1991). Cue utilization following different forms of encoding in mildly, moderately, and severely demented patients with Alzheimer's disease. Brain and Cognition, 15, 119–130.Google Scholar
Ivnik, R.J., Malec, J.F., Tangalos, E.G., Petersen, R.C., Kokmen, E., & Kurland, L.T. (1992). Mayo's older Americans normative studies: WMS-R norms for ages 56 to 94. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 6, 49–82.Google Scholar
Jack, C.R., Petersen, R.C., Xu, Y.C., O'Brien, P.C., Smith, G.E., Ivnik, R.J., Boeve, B.F., Waring, S.C., Tangalos, E.G., & Kokmen, E. (1999). Prediction of Alzheimer's disease with MRI-based hippocampal volume in mild cognitive impairment. Neurology, 52, 1397–1403.Google Scholar
Karlsson, T., Bäckman, L., Herlitz, A., Nilsson, L., Winblad, W., & Osterlind, P. (1989). Memory improvement at different stages of Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 27, 737–742.Google Scholar
Knopf, M. (1991). Having shaved a kiwi fruit: Memory of unfamiliar subject-performed actions. Psychological Research, 53, 203–211.Google Scholar
Kormi-Nouri, R. (1995). The nature of memory for action events: An episodic integration view. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 7, 337–363.Google Scholar
Lekeu, F., Van der Linden, M., Moonen, G., & Salmon, E. (2002). Exploring the effect of action familiarity on SPTs recall performance in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 24, 1057–1069.Google Scholar
Linn, R.T., Wolf, P.A., Bachman, D.L., Knopfel, J.E., Cobb, J.L., Belanger, A.J., Kaplan, E.F., & D'Agostino, R.B. (1995). The “preclinical phase” of probable Alzheimer's disease: A 13-year prospective study of the Framingham cohort. Archives of Neurology, 52, 485–490.Google Scholar
Lowenstein, D.A., Acevedo, A., Luis, C., Crum, T., Barker, W.W., & Duara, R. (2004). Semantic interference deficits and the detection of mild Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment without dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10, 91–100.Google Scholar
Lucas, J.A., Ivnik, R.J., Smith, G.E., Bohac, D.L., Tangalos, E.G., Kokmen, E., Graff-Radford, N.R., & Petersen, R.C. (1998). Normative data for the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 20, 536–547.Google Scholar
Mangels, J.A. & Heinberg, A. (2006). Improved episodic integration through enactment: Implications for aging. Journal of General Psychology, 133, 37–65.Google Scholar
Mattis, S. (1988). Dementia Rating Scale manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Melo, B., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. (1999). False recall and false recognition: An examination of the effects of selective and combined lesions to the medial temporal lobe/diencephalon and frontal lobe structures. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 16, 343–359.Google Scholar
Mimamura, M., Komatsu, S., Kato, M., Yashimasu, H., Wakamatsu, N., & Kashima, H. (1998). Memory for subject-performed tasks in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome. Cortex, 34, 297–303.Google Scholar
Mohr, G., Engelkamp, J., & Zimmer, H.D. (1989). Recall and recognition of self-performed acts. Psychological Research, 51, 181–187.Google Scholar
Nilsson, L.G., Nyberg, L., Kormi-Nouri, R., & Rönnlund, M. (1995). Dissociative effects of elaboration on memory and non-enacted events: A case of a negative effect. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 36, 225–231.Google Scholar
Nyberg, L., Nilsson, L.G., & Bäckman, L. (1992). Recall of actions, sentences and nouns: Influence of adult age and passage of time. Acta Psychologica, 79, 1–10.Google Scholar
Peinado-Manzano, M.A. (1994). Amygdala, hippocampus, and associative memory in rats. Behavioural Brain Research, 18, 175–190.Google Scholar
Petersen, R.C., Smith, G.E., Waring, S.C., Ivnik, R.J., Tangalos, E.G., & Kokmen, E. (1999). Mild cognitive impairment: Clinical characterization and outcome. Archives of Neurology, 56, 303–308.Google Scholar
Petersen, R.C., Doody, R., Kurz, A., Mohs, R.C., Morris, J.C., Rabins, P.V., Ritchie, K., Rossor, M., Thal, L., & Winblad, B. (2001). Current concepts in mild cognitive impairment. Archives of Neurology, 58, 1985–1992.Google Scholar
Schacter, D.L. (1996). Illusory memories: A cognitive neuroscience analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 93, 13,527–13,533.Google Scholar
Swainson, R., Hodges, J.R., Galton, C.J., Semple, J., Michael, A., Dunn, B.D., Iddon, J.L., Robbins, T.W., & Sahakian, B.J. (2001). Early detection and differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and depression with neuropsychological tests. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 12, 265–280.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1987). Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.
Wechsler, D. (1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–III. New York: Psychological Corporation.
Zigmond, A.S. & Snaith, R.P. (1983). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361–370.Google Scholar