Age-related synaptic loss of the medial olivocochlear efferent innervation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schrader Angela

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Age-related functional decline of the nervous system is consistently observed, though cellular and molecular events responsible for this decline remain largely unknown. One of the most prevalent age-related functional declines is age-related hearing loss (presbycusis, a major cause of which is the loss of outer hair cells (OHCs and spiral ganglion neurons. Previous studies have also identified an age-related functional decline in the medial olivocochlear (MOC efferent system prior to age-related loss of OHCs. The present study evaluated the hypothesis that this functional decline of the MOC efferent system is due to age-related synaptic loss of the efferent innervation of the OHCs. To this end, we used a recently-identified transgenic mouse line in which the expression of yellow fluorescent protein (YFP, under the control of neuron-specific elements from the thy1 gene, permits the visualization of the synaptic connections between MOC efferent fibers and OHCs. In this model, there was a dramatic synaptic loss between the MOC efferent fibers and the OHCs in older mice. However, age-related loss of efferent synapses was independent of OHC status. These data demonstrate for the first time that age-related loss of efferent synapses may contribute to the functional decline of the MOC efferent system and that this synaptic loss is not necessary for age-related loss of OHCs.

Gender differences in episodic memory and visual working memory including the effects of age.

Science.gov (United States)

Pauls, Franz; Petermann, Franz; Lepach, Anja Christina

2013-01-01

Analysing the relationship between gender and memory, and examining the effects of age on the overall memory-related functioning, are the ongoing goals of psychological research. The present study examined gender and age group differences in episodic memory with respect to the type of task. In addition, these subgroup differences were also analysed in visual working memory. A sample of 366 women and 330 men, aged between 16 and 69 years of age, participated in the current study. Results indicate that women outperformed men on auditory memory tasks, whereas male adolescents and older male adults showed higher level performances on visual episodic and visual working memory measures. However, the size of gender-linked effects varied somewhat across age groups. Furthermore, results partly support a declining performance on episodic memory and visual working memory measures with increasing age. Although age-related losses in episodic memory could not be explained by a decreasing verbal and visuospatial ability with age, women's advantage in auditory episodic memory could be explained by their advantage in verbal ability. Men's higher level visual episodic memory performance was found to result from their advantage in visuospatial ability. Finally, possible methodological, biological, and cognitive explanations for the current findings are discussed.

Age-Related Decline of Precision and Binding in Visual Working Memory

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Working memory declines with normal aging, but the nature of this impairment is debated. Studies based on detecting changes to arrays of visual objects have identified two possible components to age-related decline: a reduction in the number of items that can be stored, or a deficit in maintaining the associations (bindings) between individual object features. However, some investigations have reported intact binding with aging, and specific deficits arising only in Alzheimer’s disease. Here, using a recently developed continuous measure of recall fidelity, we tested the precision with which adults of different ages could reproduce from memory the orientation and color of a probed array item. The results reveal a further component of cognitive decline: an age-related decrease in the resolution with which visual information can be maintained in working memory. This increase in recall variability with age was strongest under conditions of greater memory load. Moreover, analysis of the distribution of errors revealed that older participants were more likely to incorrectly report one of the unprobed items in memory, consistent with an age-related increase in misbinding. These results indicate a systematic decline with age in working memory resources that can be recruited to store visual information. The paradigm presented here provides a sensitive index of both memory resolution and feature binding, with the potential for assessing their modulation by interventions. The findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms underpinning working memory deficits in both health and disease. PMID:23978008

Visual function and cognitive speed of processing mediate age-related decline in memory span and fluid intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Clay, Olivio J; Edwards, Jerri D; Ross, Lesley A; Okonkwo, Ozioma; Wadley, Virginia G; Roth, David L; Ball, Karlene K

2009-06-01

To evaluate the relationship between sensory and cognitive decline, particularly with respect to speed of processing, memory span, and fluid intelligence. In addition, the common cause, sensory degradation and speed of processing hypotheses were compared. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the complex relationships among age-related decrements in these areas. Cross-sectional data analyses included 842 older adult participants (M = 73 years). After accounting for age-related declines in vision and processing speed, the direct associations between age and memory span and between age and fluid intelligence were nonsignificant. Older age was associated with visual decline, which was associated with slower speed of processing, which in turn was associated with greater cognitive deficits. The findings support both the sensory degradation and speed of processing accounts of age-related, cognitive decline. Furthermore, the findings highlight positive aspects of normal cognitive aging in that older age may not be associated with a loss of fluid intelligence if visual sensory functioning and processing speed can be maintained.

Do age-related increases in tip-of-the-tongue experiences signify episodic memory impairments?

Science.gov (United States)

Salthouse, Timothy A; Mandell, Arielle R

2013-12-01

Tip-of-the-tongue experiences (TOTs), in which a name is known but cannot be immediately retrieved from memory, can be a cause of concern if these experiences are viewed as a sign of memory decline. The current study was conducted to investigate the relation between age and TOT frequency, and the influence of episodic memory, which is the type of memory most often assessed to detect memory problems, on that relation. In a sample of adults, increased age was found to be associated with more TOTs across different types of materials, and additional analyses suggested that these relations between age and TOT frequency were not attributable to the use of different response criteria or to different amounts of knowledge. Because statistical control of a measure of episodic memory had little effect on the relation between age and TOT frequency, age-related increases in TOTs and age-related decreases in episodic memory appear to be at least partially independent phenomena.

Genetics Home Reference: age-related hearing loss

Science.gov (United States)

... quality of life. Because affected individuals have trouble understanding speech, the condition affects their ability to communicate. It can contribute to social isolation, depression, and loss of self-esteem. Age-related hearing loss also causes safety issues if individuals become ...

Age-related differences in working memory performance in a 2-back task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nele eWild-Wall

2011-08-01

Full Text Available The present study aimed to elucidate the neuro-cognitive processes underlying age-related differences in working memory. Young and middle-aged participants performed a two-choice task with low and a 2-back task with high working memory load. The P300, an event-related potential reflecting controlled stimulus-response processing in working memory, and the underlying neuronal sources of expected age-related differences were analyzed using sLORETA. Response speed was generally slower for the middle-aged than the young group. Under low working memory load the middle-aged participants traded speed for accuracy. The middle-aged were less efficient in the 2-back task as they responded slower while the error rates did not differ for groups. An age-related decline of the P300 amplitude and characteristic topographical differences were especially evident in the 2-back task. A more detailed analysis of the P300 in non-target trials revealed that amplitudes in the young but not middle-aged group differentiate between correctly detected vs. missed targets in the following trial. For these trials, source analysis revealed higher activation for the young vs. middle-aged group in brain areas which support working memory processes. The relationship between P300 and overt performance was validated by significant correlations. To sum up, under high working memory load the young group showed an increased neuronal activity before a successful detected target, while the middle-aged group showed the same neuronal pattern regardless of whether a subsequent target will be detected or missed. This stable memory trace before detected targets was reflected by a specific activation enhancement in brain areas which orchestrate maintenance, update, storage and retrieval of information in working memory.

Age-Related Differences in Working Memory Performance in A 2-Back Task

Science.gov (United States)

Wild-Wall, Nele; Falkenstein, Michael; Gajewski, Patrick D.

2011-01-01

The present study aimed to elucidate the neuro-cognitive processes underlying age-related differences in working memory. Young and middle-aged participants performed a two-choice task with low and a 2-back task with high working memory load. The P300, an event-related potential reflecting controlled stimulus–response processing in working memory, and the underlying neuronal sources of expected age-related differences were analyzed using sLORETA. Response speed was generally slower for the middle-aged than the young group. Under low working memory load the middle-aged participants traded speed for accuracy. The middle-aged were less efficient in the 2-back task as they responded slower while the error rates did not differ for groups. An age-related decline of the P300 amplitude and characteristic topographical differences were especially evident in the 2-back task. A more detailed analysis of the P300 in non-target trials revealed that amplitudes in the young but not middle-aged group differentiate between correctly detected vs. missed targets in the following trial. For these trials, source analysis revealed higher activation for the young vs. middle-aged group in brain areas which support working memory processes. The relationship between P300 and overt performance was validated by significant correlations. To sum up, under high working memory load the young group showed an increased neuronal activity before a successful detected target, while the middle-aged group showed the same neuronal pattern regardless of whether a subsequent target will be detected or missed. This stable memory trace before detected targets was reflected by a specific activation enhancement in brain areas which orchestrate maintenance, update, storage, and retrieval of information in working memory. PMID:21909328

Pathological changes in hippocampal neuronal circuits underlie age-associated neurodegeneration and memory loss: positive clue toward SAD.

Science.gov (United States)

Moorthi, P; Premkumar, P; Priyanka, R; Jayachandran, K S; Anusuyadevi, M

2015-08-20

Among vertebrates hippocampus forms the major component of the brain in consolidating information from short-term memory to long-term memory. Aging is considered as the major risk factor for memory impairment in sporadic Alzheimer's disease (SAD) like pathology. Present study thus aims at investigating whether age-specific degeneration of neuronal-circuits in hippocampal formation (neural-layout of Subiculum-hippocampus proper-dentate gyrus (DG)-entorhinal cortex (EC)) results in cognitive impairment. Furthermore, the neuroprotective effect of Resveratrol (RSV) was attempted to study in the formation of hippocampal neuronal-circuits. Radial-Arm-Maze was conducted to evaluate hippocampal-dependent spatial and learning memory in control and experimental rats. Nissl staining of frontal cortex (FC), subiculum, hippocampal-proper (CA1→CA2→CA3→CA4), DG, amygdala, cerebellum, thalamus, hypothalamus, layers of temporal and parietal lobe of the neocortex were examined for pathological changes in young and aged wistar rats, with and without RSV. Hippocampal trisynaptic circuit (EC layerII→DG→CA3→CA1) forming new memory and monosynaptic circuit (EC→CA1) that strengthen old memories were found disturbed in aged rats. Loss of Granular neuron observed in DG and polymorphic cells of CA4 can lead to decreased mossy fibers disturbing neural-transmission (CA4→CA3) in perforant pathway. Further, intensity of nissl granules (stratum lacunosum moleculare (SLM)-SR-SO) of CA3 pyramidal neurons was decreased, disturbing the communication in schaffer collaterals (CA3-CA1) during aging. We also noticed disarranged neuronal cell layer in Subiculum (presubiculum (PrS)-parasubiculum (PaS)), interfering output from hippocampus to prefrontal cortex (PFC), EC, hypothalamus, and amygdala that may result in interruption of thought processes. We conclude from our observations that poor memory performance of aged rats as evidenced through radial arm maze (RAM) analysis was due to the

A four-component model of age-related memory change.

Science.gov (United States)

Healey, M Karl; Kahana, Michael J

2016-01-01

We develop a novel, computationally explicit, theory of age-related memory change within the framework of the context maintenance and retrieval (CMR2) model of memory search. We introduce a set of benchmark findings from the free recall and recognition tasks that include aspects of memory performance that show both age-related stability and decline. We test aging theories by lesioning the corresponding mechanisms in a model fit to younger adult free recall data. When effects are considered in isolation, many theories provide an adequate account, but when all effects are considered simultaneously, the existing theories fail. We develop a novel theory by fitting the full model (i.e., allowing all parameters to vary) to individual participants and comparing the distributions of parameter values for older and younger adults. This theory implicates 4 components: (a) the ability to sustain attention across an encoding episode, (b) the ability to retrieve contextual representations for use as retrieval cues, (c) the ability to monitor retrievals and reject intrusions, and (d) the level of noise in retrieval competitions. We extend CMR2 to simulate a recognition memory task using the same mechanisms the free recall model uses to reject intrusions. Without fitting any additional parameters, the 4-component theory that accounts for age differences in free recall predicts the magnitude of age differences in recognition memory accuracy. Confirming a prediction of the model, free recall intrusion rates correlate positively with recognition false alarm rates. Thus, we provide a 4-component theory of a complex pattern of age differences across 2 key laboratory tasks. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The effects of attention on age-related relational memory deficits: Evidence from a novel attentional manipulation

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, So-Yeon; Giovanello, Kelly S.

2011-01-01

Healthy aging is often accompanied by episodic memory decline. Prior studies have consistently demonstrated that older adults show disproportionate deficits in relational memory (RM) relative to item memory (IM). Despite rich evidence of an age-related RM deficit, the source of this deficit remains unspecified. One of the most widely investigated factors of age-related RM impairment is a reduction in attentional resources. However, no prior studies have demonstrated that reduced attentional resources are the critical source of age-related RM deficits. Here, we utilized qualitatively different attention tasks, and tested whether reduced attention for relational processing underlies the RM deficit observed in aging. In Experiment 1, we imposed either item-detection or relation-detection attention tasks on young adults during episodic memory encoding, and found that only the concurrent attention task involving relational processing disproportionately impaired RM performance in young adults. Moreover, by ruling out the possible confound of task-difficulty on the disproportionate RM impairment, we further demonstrated that reduced relational attention is a key factor for the age-related RM deficit. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results from Experiment 1 using different materials of stimuli and found that the effect of relational attention on RM is material-general. The results of Experiment 2 also showed that reducing attentional resources for relational processing in young adults strikingly equated their RM performance to that of older adults. Thus, the current study documents the first evidence that reduced attentional resources for relational processing are a critical factor for the relational memory impairment observed in aging. PMID:21707178

Memory loss

Science.gov (United States)

... barbiturates or ( hypnotics ) ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) (most often short-term memory loss) Epilepsy that is not well controlled Illness that ... appointment. Medical history questions may include: Type of memory loss, such as short-term or long-term Time pattern, such as how ...

Age-related memory impairments due to reduced blood glucose responses to epinephrine.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Ken A; Chang, Qing; Mohler, Eric G; Gold, Paul E

2010-12-01

Increases in blood glucose levels are an important component of the mechanisms by which epinephrine enhances memory formation. The present experiments addressed the hypothesis that a dysfunction in the blood glucose response to circulating epinephrine contributes to age-related memory impairments. Doses of epinephrine and glucagon that significantly increased blood glucose levels in young adult rats were far less effective at doing so in 2-year-old rats. In young rats, epinephrine and glucose were about equally effective in enhancing memory and in prolonging post-training release of acetylcholine in the hippocampus. However, glucose was more effective than epinephrine in enhancing both memory and acetylcholine release in aged rats. These results suggest that an uncoupling between circulating epinephrine and glucose levels in old rats may lead to an age-related reduction in the provision of glucose to the brain during training. This in turn may contribute to age-related changes in memory and neural plasticity. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Potential Therapeutic Effects of Lipoic Acid on Memory Deficits Related to Aging and Neurodegeneration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrícia Molz

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The aging process comprises a series of organic alterations, affecting multiple systems, including the nervous system. Aging has been considered the main risk factor for the advance of neurodegenerative diseases, many of which are accompanied by cognitive impairment. Aged individuals show cognitive decline, which has been associated with oxidative stress, as well as mitochondrial, and consequently energetic failure. Lipoic acid (LA, a natural compound present in food and used as a dietary supplement, has been considered a promising agent for the treatment and/or prevention of neurodegenerative disorders. In spite of a number of preclinical studies showing beneficial effects of LA in memory functioning, and pointing to its neuroprotective potential effect, to date only a few studies have examined its effects in humans. Investigations performed in animal models of memory loss associated to aging and neurodegenerative disorders have shown that LA improves memory in a variety of behavioral paradigms. Moreover, cell and molecular mechanisms underlying LA effects have also been investigated. Accordingly, LA displays antioxidant, antiapoptotic, and anti-inflammatory properties in both in vivo and in vitro studies. In addition, it has been shown that LA reverses age-associated loss of neurotransmitters and their receptors, which can underlie its effects on cognitive functions. The present review article aimed at summarizing and discussing the main studies investigating the effects of LA on cognition as well as its cell and molecular effects, in order to improve the understanding of the therapeutic potential of LA on memory loss during aging and in patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, supporting the development of clinical trials with LA.

Neural Alterations in Acquired Age-Related Hearing Loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raksha Anand Mudar

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent chronic health conditions in older adults. Growing evidence suggests that hearing loss is associated with reduced cognitive functioning and incident dementia. In this mini-review, we briefly examine literature on anatomical and functional alterations in the brains of adults with acquired age-associated hearing loss, which may underlie the cognitive consequences observed in this population, focusing on studies that have used structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and event-related electroencephalography. We discuss structural and functional alterations observed in the temporal and frontal cortices and the limbic system. These neural alterations are discussed in the context of common cause, information-degradation, and sensory-deprivation hypotheses, and we suggest possible rehabilitation strategies. Although we are beginning to learn more about changes in neural architecture and functionality related to age-associated hearing loss, much work remains to be done. Understanding the neural alterations will provide objective markers for early identification of neural consequences of age-associated hearing loss and for evaluating benefits of intervention approaches.

Pathogenesis of age-related bone loss in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Khosla, Sundeep

2013-10-01

Although data from rodent systems are extremely useful in providing insights into possible mechanisms of age-related bone loss, concepts evolving from animal models need to ultimately be tested in humans. This review provides an update on mechanisms of age-related bone loss in humans based on the author's knowledge of the field and focused literature reviews. Novel imaging, experimental models, biomarkers, and analytic techniques applied directly to human studies are providing new insights into the patterns of bone mass acquisition and loss as well as the role of sex steroids, in particular estrogen, on bone metabolism and bone loss with aging in women and men. These studies have identified the onset of trabecular bone loss at multiple sites that begins in young adulthood and remains unexplained, at least based on current paradigms of the mechanisms of bone loss. In addition, estrogen appears to be a major regulator of bone metabolism not only in women but also in men. Studies assessing mechanisms of estrogen action on bone in humans have identified effects of estrogen on RANKL expression by several different cell types in the bone microenvironment, a role for TNF-α and IL-1β in mediating effects of estrogen deficiency on bone, and possible regulation of the Wnt inhibitor, sclerostin, by estrogen. There have been considerable advances in our understanding of age-related bone loss in humans. However, there are also significant gaps in knowledge, particularly in defining cell autonomous changes in bone in human studies to test or validate concepts emerging from studies in rodents. Decision Editor: Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD.

Auditory Memory deficit in Elderly People with Hearing Loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Shahidipour

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Hearing loss is one of the most common problems in elderly people. Functional side effects of hearing loss are various. Due to the fact that hearing loss is the common impairment in elderly people; the importance of its possible effects on auditory memory is undeniable. This study aims to focus on the hearing loss effects on auditory memory.   Materials and Methods: Dichotic Auditory Memory Test (DVMT was performed on 47 elderly people, aged 60 to 80; that were divided in two groups, the first group consisted of elderly people with hearing range of 24 normal and the second one consisted of 23 elderly people with bilateral symmetrical ranged from mild to moderate Sensorineural hearing loss in the high frequency due to aging in both genders.   Results: Significant difference was observed in DVMT between elderly people with normal hearing and those with hearing loss (P

Age-Related Change in Visual Working Memory: A study of 55,753 Participants Aged 8 to 75

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James R. Brockmole

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Visual working memory abilities of 55,753 individuals between the ages of 8 and 75 were assessed to provide the most fine-grain analysis of age-related change in visual working memory to date. Results showed that visual working memory changes throughout the lifespan, peaking at age 20. A sharp linear decline follows that is so severe that by age 55, adults possess poorer immediate visual memory than 8 and 9 year olds. These developmental changes were largely explained by changing visual working memory capacity coupled with small short-term visual feature binding difficulties among children and older adults.

Effects of aging and divided attention on memory for items and their contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Craik, Fergus I M; Luo, Lin; Sakuta, Yuiko

2010-12-01

It is commonly found that memory for context declines disproportionately with aging, arguably due to a general age-related deficit in associative memory processes. One possible mechanism for such deficits is an age-related reduction in available processing resources. In two experiments we compared the effects of aging to the effects of division of attention in younger adults on memory for items and context. Using a technique proposed by Craik (1989), linear functions relating memory performance for items and their contexts were derived for a Young Full Attention group, a Young Divided Attention group, and an Older Adult group. Results suggested that the Old group showed an additional deficit in associative memory that was not mimicked by divided attention. It is speculated that both divided attention and aging are associated with a loss of available processing resources that may reflect inefficient frontal lobe functioning, whereas the additional age-related decrement in associative memory may reflect inefficient processing in medial-temporal regions. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Memory's aging echo: age-related decline in neural reactivation of perceptual details during recollection.

Science.gov (United States)

McDonough, Ian M; Cervantes, Sasha N; Gray, Stephen J; Gallo, David A

2014-09-01

Episodic memory decline is a hallmark of normal cognitive aging. Here, we report the first event-related fMRI study to directly investigate age differences in the neural reactivation of qualitatively rich perceptual details during recollection. Younger and older adults studied pictures of complex scenes at different presentation durations along with descriptive verbal labels, and these labels subsequently were used during fMRI scanning to cue picture recollections of varying perceptual detail. As expected from prior behavioral work, the two age groups subjectively rated their recollections as containing similar amounts of perceptual detail, despite objectively measured recollection impairment in older adults. In both age groups, comparisons of retrieval trials that varied in recollected detail revealed robust activity in brain regions previously linked to recollection, including hippocampus and both medial and lateral regions of the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex. Critically, this analysis also revealed recollection-related activity in visual processing regions that were active in an independent picture-perception task, and these regions showed age-related reductions in activity during recollection that cannot be attributed to age differences in response criteria. These fMRI findings provide new evidence that aging reduces the absolute quantity of perceptual details that are reactivated from memory, and they help to explain why aging reduces the reliability of subjective memory judgments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual memory for objects following foveal vision loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Geringswald, Franziska; Herbik, Anne; Hofmüller, Wolfram; Hoffmann, Michael B; Pollmann, Stefan

2015-09-01

Allocation of visual attention is crucial for encoding items into visual long-term memory. In free vision, attention is closely linked to the center of gaze, raising the question whether foveal vision loss entails suboptimal deployment of attention and subsequent impairment of object encoding. To investigate this question, we examined visual long-term memory for objects in patients suffering from foveal vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration. We measured patients' change detection sensitivity after a period of free scene exploration monocularly with their worse eye when possible, and under binocular vision, comparing sensitivity and eye movements to matched normal-sighted controls. A highly salient cue was used to capture attention to a nontarget location before a target change occurred in half of the trials, ensuring that change detection relied on memory. Patients' monocular and binocular sensitivity to object change was comparable to controls, even after more than 4 intervening fixations, and not significantly correlated with visual impairment. We conclude that extrafoveal vision suffices for efficient encoding into visual long-term memory. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-related individual variability in memory performance is associated with amygdala-hippocampal circuit function and emotional pattern separation

Science.gov (United States)

Leal, Stephanie L.; Noche, Jessica A.; Murray, Elizabeth A.; Yassa, Michael A.

2018-01-01

While aging is generally associated with episodic memory decline, not all older adults exhibit memory loss. Furthermore, emotional memories are not subject to the same extent of forgetting and appear preserved in aging. We conducted high-resolution fMRI during a task involving pattern separation of emotional information in older adults with and without age-related memory impairment (characterized by performance on a word-list learning task: low performers: LP vs. high performers: HP). We found signals consistent with emotional pattern separation in hippocampal dentate (DG)/CA3 in HP but not in LP individuals, suggesting a deficit in emotional pattern separation. During false recognition, we found increased DG/CA3 activity in LP individuals, suggesting that hyperactivity may be associated with overgeneralization. We additionally observed a selective deficit in basolateral amygdala—lateral entorhinal cortex—DG/CA3 functional connectivity in LP individuals during pattern separation of negative information. During negative false recognition, LP individuals showed increased medial temporal lobe functional connectivity, consistent with overgeneralization. Overall, these results suggest a novel mechanistic account of individual differences in emotional memory alterations exhibited in aging. PMID:27723500

Age-related individual variability in memory performance is associated with amygdala-hippocampal circuit function and emotional pattern separation.

Science.gov (United States)

Leal, Stephanie L; Noche, Jessica A; Murray, Elizabeth A; Yassa, Michael A

2017-01-01

While aging is generally associated with episodic memory decline, not all older adults exhibit memory loss. Furthermore, emotional memories are not subject to the same extent of forgetting and appear preserved in aging. We conducted high-resolution fMRI during a task involving pattern separation of emotional information in older adults with and without age-related memory impairment (characterized by performance on a word-list learning task: low performers: LP vs. high performers: HP). We found signals consistent with emotional pattern separation in hippocampal dentate (DG)/CA3 in HP but not in LP individuals, suggesting a deficit in emotional pattern separation. During false recognition, we found increased DG/CA3 activity in LP individuals, suggesting that hyperactivity may be associated with overgeneralization. We additionally observed a selective deficit in basolateral amygdala-lateral entorhinal cortex-DG/CA3 functional connectivity in LP individuals during pattern separation of negative information. During negative false recognition, LP individuals showed increased medial temporal lobe functional connectivity, consistent with overgeneralization. Overall, these results suggest a novel mechanistic account of individual differences in emotional memory alterations exhibited in aging. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age-dependent loss of cholinergic neurons in learning and memory-related brain regions and impaired learning in SAMP8 mice with trigeminal nerve damage

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yifan He; Jihong Zhu; Fang Huang; Liu Qin; Wenguo Fan; Hongwen He

2014-01-01

The tooth belongs to the trigeminal sensory pathway. Dental damage has been associated with impairments in the central nervous system that may be mediated by injury to the trigeminal nerve. In the present study, we investigated the effects of damage to the inferior alveolar nerve, an important peripheral nerve in the trigeminal sensory pathway, on learning and memory be-haviors and structural changes in related brain regions, in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Inferior alveolar nerve transection or sham surgery was performed in middle-aged (4-month-old) or elderly (7-month-old) senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice. When the middle-aged mice reached 8 months (middle-aged group 1) or 11 months (middle-aged group 2), and the elderly group reached 11 months, step-down passive avoidance and Y-maze tests of learn-ing and memory were performed, and the cholinergic system was examined in the hippocampus (Nissl staining and acetylcholinesterase histochemistry) and basal forebrain (choline acetyltrans-ferase immunohistochemistry). In the elderly group, animals that underwent nerve transection had fewer pyramidal neurons in the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 regions, fewer cholinergic ifbers in the CA1 and dentate gyrus, and fewer cholinergic neurons in the medial septal nucleus and vertical limb of the diagonal band, compared with sham-operated animals, as well as showing impairments in learning and memory. Conversely, no signiifcant differences in histology or be-havior were observed between middle-aged group 1 or group 2 transected mice and age-matched sham-operated mice. The present ifndings suggest that trigeminal nerve damage in old age, but not middle age, can induce degeneration of the septal-hippocampal cholinergic system and loss of hippocampal pyramidal neurons, and ultimately impair learning ability. Our results highlight the importance of active treatment of trigeminal nerve damage in elderly patients and those with Alzheimer’s disease, and

Working memory in middle-aged males: Age-related brain activation changes and cognitive fatigue effects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaassen, Elissa; Evers, Elisabeth; De Groot, Renate; Backes, Walter; Veltman, Dick; Jolles, Jelle

2017-01-01

We examined the effects of aging and cognitive fatigue on working memory (WM) related brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Age-related differences were investigated in 13 young and 16 middle-aged male school teachers. Cognitive fatigue was induced by sustained performance on

Motor Skills Enhance Procedural Memory Formation and Protect against Age-Related Decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Nils C J; Genzel, Lisa; Konrad, Boris N; Pawlowski, Marcel; Neville, David; Fernández, Guillén; Steiger, Axel; Dresler, Martin

2016-01-01

The ability to consolidate procedural memories declines with increasing age. Prior knowledge enhances learning and memory consolidation of novel but related information in various domains. Here, we present evidence that prior motor experience-in our case piano skills-increases procedural learning and has a protective effect against age-related decline for the consolidation of novel but related manual movements. In our main experiment, we tested 128 participants with a sequential finger-tapping motor task during two sessions 24 hours apart. We observed enhanced online learning speed and offline memory consolidation for piano players. Enhanced memory consolidation was driven by a strong effect in older participants, whereas younger participants did not benefit significantly from prior piano experience. In a follow up independent control experiment, this compensatory effect of piano experience was not visible after a brief offline period of 30 minutes, hence requiring an extended consolidation window potentially involving sleep. Through a further control experiment, we rejected the possibility that the decreased effect in younger participants was caused by training saturation. We discuss our results in the context of the neurobiological schema approach and suggest that prior experience has the potential to rescue memory consolidation from age-related cognitive decline.

Epinephrine and glucose modulate training-related CREB phosphorylation in old rats: relationships to age-related memory impairments.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Ken A; Gold, Paul E

2013-02-01

Epinephrine enhances memory in young adult rats, in part, by increasing blood glucose levels needed to modulate memory. In old rats, epinephrine is deficient at raising blood glucose levels and thus is only moderately effective at enhancing memory. In contrast, systemic glucose injections improve memory in old rats, with resulting memory performance equal to that of young rats. The diminished response of glucose to training in old rats may blunt downstream neurochemical and molecular mechanisms needed to upregulate memory processes. In the first experiment, young adult and old rats were trained on an inhibitory avoidance task with immediate post-training injections of aCSF or glucose into the dorsal hippocampus. Old rats had significant memory impairments compared to young rats 7 days after training. Intrahippocampal injections of glucose reversed age-related deficits, improving memory scores in old rats to values seen in young rats. A second experiment examined age-related changes in activation of the transcription factor CREB, which is widely implicated in memory formation and may act downstream of hormonal and metabolic signals. Activation was assessed in response to training with systemic injections of epinephrine and glucose at doses known to enhance memory. Young adult and old rats were trained on inhibitory avoidance with immediate post-training systemic injections of saline, epinephrine, or glucose. After training, old rats had significant impairments in CREB phosphorylation in area CA1 and the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, and in the basolateral and lateral amygdala. Epinephrine and glucose attenuated age-related deficits in CREB phosphorylation, but were more effective in the amygdala and hippocampus, respectively. Together, these results support the view that age-related changes in blood glucose responses to epinephrine contribute to memory impairments, which may be related to alterations in regional patterns of CREB phosphorylation. Copyright

The effect of functional hearing loss and age on long- and short-term visuospatial memory: evidence from the UK biobank resource.

Science.gov (United States)

Rönnberg, Jerker; Hygge, Staffan; Keidser, Gitte; Rudner, Mary

2014-01-01

The UK Biobank offers cross-sectional epidemiological data collected on >500,000 individuals in the UK between 40 and 70 years of age. Using the UK Biobank data, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of functional hearing loss and hearing aid usage on visuospatial memory function. This selection of variables resulted in a sub-sample of 138,098 participants after discarding extreme values. A digit triplets functional hearing test was used to divide the participants into three groups: poor, insufficient and normal hearers. We found negative relationships between functional hearing loss and both visuospatial working memory (i.e., a card pair matching task) and visuospatial, episodic long-term memory (i.e., a prospective memory task), with the strongest association for episodic long-term memory. The use of hearing aids showed a small positive effect for working memory performance for the poor hearers, but did not have any influence on episodic long-term memory. Age also showed strong main effects for both memory tasks and interacted with gender and education for the long-term memory task. Broader theoretical implications based on a memory systems approach will be discussed and compared to theoretical alternatives.

The Effect of Functional Hearing Loss and Age on Long- and Short-term Visuospatial Memory: Evidence from the UK Biobank Resource

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerker eRönnberg

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The UK Biobank offers cross-sectional epidemiological data collected on > 500 000 individuals in the UK between 40 and 70 years of age. Using the UK Biobank data, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of functional hearing loss and hearing aid usage on visuospatial memory function. This selection of variables resulted in a sub-sample of 138 098 participants after discarding extreme values. A digit triplets functional hearing test was used to divide the participants into three groups: poor, insufficient and normal hearers. We found negative relationships between functional hearing loss and both visuospatial working memory (i.e., a card pair matching task and visuospatial, episodic long-term memory (i.e., a prospective memory task, with the strongest association for episodic long-term memory. The use of hearing aids showed a small positive effect for working memory performance for the poor hearers, but did not have any influence on episodic long-term memory. Age also showed strong main effects for both memory tasks and interacted with gender and education for the long-term memory task. Broader theoretical implications based on a memory systems approach will be discussed and compared to theoretical alternatives.

Age-related hair pigment loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Tobin, Desmond J

2015-01-01

Humans are social animals that communicate disproportionately via potent genetic signals imbued in the skin and hair, including racial, ethnic, health, gender, and age status. For the vast majority of us, age-related hair pigment loss becomes the inescapable signal of our disappearing youth. The hair follicle (HF) pigmentary unit is a wonderful tissue for studying mechanisms generally regulating aging, often before this becomes evident elsewhere in the body. Given that follicular melanocytes (unlike those in the epidermis) are regulated by the hair growth cycle, this cycle is likely to impact the process of aging in the HF pigmentary unit. The formal identification of melanocyte stem cells in the mouse skin has spurred a flurry of reports on the potential involvement of melanocyte stem cell depletion in hair graying (i.e., canities). Caution is recommended, however, against simple extrapolation of murine data to humans. Regardless, hair graying in both species is likely to involve an age-related imbalance in the tissue's oxidative stress handling that will impact not only melanogenesis but also melanocyte stem cell and melanocyte homeostasis and survival. There is some emerging evidence that the HF pigmentary unit may have regenerative potential, even after it has begun to produce white hair fibers. It may therefore be feasible to develop strategies to modulate some aging-associated changes to maintain melanin production for longer. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Heritability of Age-Related Hearing Loss in Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Duan, Haiping; Zhang, Dongfeng; Liang, Yajun

2018-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The heritability of age-related hearing loss has been studied mostly in developed countries. The authors aimed to estimate the heritability of better ear hearing level (BEHL), defined as hearing level of the better ear at a given frequency, and pure-tone averages at the middle (0.5, 1.......0, and 2.0 kHz) and high (4.0, 8.0, and 12.5 kHz) frequencies among middle-aged and elderly Chinese twins, and to explore their genetic correlations. DESIGN: This population-based twin study included 226 monozygotic and 132 dizygotic twin-pairs and 1 triplet (age range, 33 to 80 years; mean age, 51.......75 at high frequencies. CONCLUSIONS: This population-based twin study suggests that genetic factors are associated with age-related hearing loss at middle and high frequencies among middle-aged and elderly Chinese....

Do Age-Related Increases in Tip-of-the-Tongue Experiences Signify Episodic Memory Impairments?

OpenAIRE

Salthouse, Timothy A.; Mandell, Arielle R.

2013-01-01

Tip-of-the-tongue experiences (TOTs), in which a name is known but cannot be immediately retrieved from memory, can be a cause of concern if these experiences are viewed as a sign of memory decline. The current study was conducted to investigate the relation between age and TOT frequency, and the influence of episodic memory, which is the type of memory most often assessed to detect memory problems, on that relation. In a sample of adults, increased age was found to be associated with more TO...

An age-related deficit in spatial-feature reference memory in homing pigeons (Columba livia).

Science.gov (United States)

Coppola, Vincent J; Flaim, Mary E; Carney, Samantha N; Bingman, Verner P

2015-03-01

Age-related memory decline in mammals has been well documented. By contrast, very little is known about memory decline in birds as they age. In the current study we trained younger and older homing pigeons on a reference memory task in which a goal location could be encoded by spatial and feature cues. Consistent with a previous working memory study, the results revealed impaired acquisition of combined spatial-feature reference memory in older compared to younger pigeons. Following memory acquisition, we used cue-conflict probe trials to provide an initial assessment of possible age-related differences in cue preference. Both younger and older pigeons displayed a similarly modest preference for feature over spatial cues. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pathophysiology of Age-Related Hearing Loss (Peripheral and Central)

OpenAIRE

Lee, Kyu-Yup

2013-01-01

Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) refers to bilaterally symmetrical hearing loss resulting from aging process. Presbycusis is a complex phenomenon characterized by audiometric threshold shift, deterioration in speech-understanding and speech-perception difficulties in noisy environments. Factors contributing to presbycusis include mitochondria DNA mutation, genetic disorders including Ahl, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic disease and other systemic diseases in the intrinsic aspects. Ext...

Content Analysis of Memory and Memory-Related Research Studies on Children with Hearing Loss

Science.gov (United States)

Dogan, Murat; Hasanoglu, Gülcihan

2016-01-01

Memory plays a profound role in explaining language development, academic learning, and learning disabilities. Even though there is a large body of research on language development, literacy skills, other academic skills, and intellectual characteristics of children with hearing loss, there is no holistic study on their memory processes.…

Working memory, short-term memory and reading proficiency in school-age children with cochlear implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Bharadwaj, Sneha V; Maricle, Denise; Green, Laura; Allman, Tamby

2015-10-01

The objective of the study was to examine short-term memory and working memory through both visual and auditory tasks in school-age children with cochlear implants. The relationship between the performance on these cognitive skills and reading as well as language outcomes were examined in these children. Ten children between the ages of 7 and 11 years with early-onset bilateral severe-profound hearing loss participated in the study. Auditory and visual short-term memory, auditory and visual working memory subtests and verbal knowledge measures were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV Integrated and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children II. Reading outcomes were assessed using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test III. Performance on visual short-term memory and visual working memory measures in children with cochlear implants was within the average range when compared to the normative mean. However, auditory short-term memory and auditory working memory measures were below average when compared to the normative mean. Performance was also below average on all verbal knowledge measures. Regarding reading outcomes, children with cochlear implants scored below average for listening and passage comprehension tasks and these measures were positively correlated to visual short-term memory, visual working memory and auditory short-term memory. Performance on auditory working memory subtests was not related to reading or language outcomes. The children with cochlear implants in this study demonstrated better performance in visual (spatial) working memory and short-term memory skills than in auditory working memory and auditory short-term memory skills. Significant positive relationships were found between visual working memory and reading outcomes. The results of the study provide support for the idea that WM capacity is modality specific in children with hearing loss. Based on these

Autobiographical Memory in Normal Ageing and Dementia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harvey J. Sagar

1991-01-01

Full Text Available Autobiographical memories in young and elderly normal subjects are drawn mostly from the recent past but elderly subjects relate a second peak of memories from early adulthood. Memory for remote past public events is relatively preserved in dementia, possibly reflecting integrity of semantic relative to episodic memory. We examined recall of specific, consistent autobiographical episodes in Alzheimer's disease (AD in response to cue words. Patients and control subjects drew most memories from the recent 20 years: episode age related to anterograde memory function but not subject age or dementia. Subjects also related a secondary peak of memories from early adulthood; episode age related to subject age and severity of dementia. The results suggest that preferential recall of memories from early adulthood is based on the salience of retrieval cues, altered by age and dementia, superimposed on a temporal gradient of semantic memory. Further, AD shows behavioural similarity to normal ageing.

Hilar Interneuron Vulnerability Distinguishes Aged Rats With Memory Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Spiegel, Amy M.; Koh, Ming Teng; Vogt, Nicholas M.; Rapp, Peter R.; Gallagher, Michela

2016-01-01

Hippocampal interneuron populations are reportedly vulnerable to normal aging. The relationship between interneuron network integrity and age-related memory impairment, however, has not been tested directly. That question was addressed in the present study using a well-characterized model in which outbred, aged, male Long-Evans rats exhibit a spectrum of individual differences in hippocampal-dependent memory. Selected interneuron populations in the hippocampus were visualized for stereological quantification with a panel of immunocytochemical markers, including glutamic acid decarboxylase-67 (GAD67), somatostatin, and neuropeptide Y. The overall pattern of results was that, although the numbers of GAD67- and somatostatin-positive interneurons declined with age across multiple fields of the hippocampus, alterations specifically related to the cognitive outcome of aging were observed exclusively in the hilus of the dentate gyrus. Because the total number of NeuN-immunoreactive hilar neurons was unaffected, the decline observed with other markers likely reflects a loss of target protein rather than neuron death. In support of that interpretation, treatment with the atypical antiepileptic levetiracetam at a low dose shown previously to improve behavioral performance fully restored hilar SOM expression in aged, memory-impaired rats. Age-related decreases in GAD67- and somatostatin-immunoreactive neuron number beyond the hilus were regionally selective and spared the CA1 field of the hippocampus entirely. Together these findings confirm the vulnerability of hippocampal interneurons to normal aging and highlight that the integrity of a specific subpopulation in the hilus is coupled with age-related memory impairment. PMID:23749483

Coping with Memory Loss

Science.gov (United States)

... Consumers Home For Consumers Consumer Updates Coping With Memory Loss Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More sharing ... be evaluated by a health professional. What Causes Memory Loss? Anything that affects cognition—the process of ...

Age-related differences in working memory updating components.

Science.gov (United States)

Linares, Rocío; Bajo, M Teresa; Pelegrina, Santiago

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to investigate possible age-related changes throughout childhood and adolescence in different component processes of working memory updating (WMU): retrieval, transformation, and substitution. A set of numerical WMU tasks was administered to four age groups (8-, 11-, 14-, and 21-year-olds). To isolate the effect of each of the WMU components, participants performed different versions of a task that included different combinations of the WMU components. The results showed an expected overall decrease in response times and an increase in accuracy performance with age. Most important, specific age-related changes in the retrieval component were found, demonstrating that the effect of retrieval on accuracy was larger in children than in adolescents or young adults. These findings indicate that the availability of representations from outside the focus of attention may change with age. Thus, the retrieval component of updating could contribute to the age-related changes observed in the performance of many updating tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ECT and memory loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Squire, L R

1977-09-01

The author reviews several studies that clarify the nature of the memory loss associated with ECT. Bilateral ECT produced greater anterograde memory loss than right unilateral ECT and more extensive retrograde amnesia than unilateral ECT. Reactivating memories just before ECT did not produce amnesia. Capacity for new learning recovered substantially by several months after ECT, but memory complaints were common in individuals who had received bilateral ECT. Other things being equal, right unilateral ECT seems preferable to bilateral ECT because the risks to memory associated with unilateral ECT are smaller.

Age-Related Reversals in Neural Recruitment across Memory Retrieval Phases.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Jaclyn H; Kensinger, Elizabeth A

2017-05-17

Over the last several decades, neuroimaging research has identified age-related neural changes that occur during cognitive tasks. These changes are used to help researchers identify functional changes that contribute to age-related impairments in cognitive performance. One commonly reported example of such a change is an age-related decrease in the recruitment of posterior sensory regions coupled with an increased recruitment of prefrontal regions across multiple cognitive tasks. This shift is often described as a compensatory recruitment of prefrontal regions due to age-related sensory-processing deficits in posterior regions. However, age is not only associated with spatial shifts in recruitment, but also with temporal shifts, in which younger and older adults recruit the same neural region at different points in a task trial. The current study examines the possible contribution of temporal modifications in the often-reported posterior-anterior shift. Participants, ages 19-85, took part in a memory retrieval task with a protracted retrieval trial consisting of an initial memory search phase and a subsequent detail elaboration phase. Age-related neural patterns during search replicated prior reports of age-related decreases in posterior recruitment and increases in prefrontal recruitment. However, during the later elaboration phase, the same posterior regions were associated with age-related increases in activation. Further, ROI and functional connectivity results suggest that these posterior regions function similarly during search and elaboration. These results suggest that the often-reported posterior-anterior shift may not reflect the inability of older adults to engage in sensory processing, but rather a change in when they recruit this processing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The current study provides evidence that the often-reported posterior-anterior shift in aging may not reflect a global sensory-processing deficit, as has often been reported, but rather a

Nutrient-rich meat proteins in offsetting age-related muscle loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Stuart M

2012-11-01

From a health perspective, an underappreciated consequence of the normal aging process is the impacts that the gradual loss of skeletal muscle mass, termed sarcopenia, has on health beyond an effect on locomotion. Sarcopenia, refers to the loss of muscle mass, and associated muscle weakness, which occurs in aging and is thought to proceed at a rate of approximately 1% loss per year. However, periods of inactivity due to illness or recovery from orthopedic procedures such as hip or knee replacement are times of accelerated sarcopenic muscle loss from which it may be more difficult for older persons to recover. Some of the consequences of age-related sarcopenia are easy to appreciate such as weakness and, eventually, reduced mobility; however, other lesser recognized consequences include, due to the metabolic role the skeletal muscle plays, an increased risk for poor glucose control and a predisposition toward weight gain. What we currently know is that two stimuli can counter this age related muscle loss and these are physical activity, specifically resistance exercise (weightlifting), and nutrition. The focus of this paper is on the types of dietary protein that people might reasonably consume to offset sarcopenic muscle loss. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Short-term memory loss associated with rosuvastatin.

Science.gov (United States)

Galatti, Laura; Polimeni, Giovanni; Salvo, Francesco; Romani, Marcello; Sessa, Aurelio; Spina, Edoardo

2006-08-01

Memory loss and cognitive impairment have been reported in the literature in association with several 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins), but we found no published case reports associated with rosuvastatin. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of rosuvastatin-related short-term memory loss. A 53-year-old Caucasian man with hypercholesterolemia experienced memory loss after being treated with rosuvastatin 10 mg/day. He had no other concomitant conditions or drug therapies. After discontinuation of rosuvastatin, the neuropsychiatric adverse reaction resolved gradually, suggesting a probable drug association. During the following year, the patient remained free from neuropsychiatric disturbances. Clinicians should be aware of possible adverse cognitive reactions during statin therapy, including rosuvastatin.

Age-related hearing loss or presbycusis.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Qi; Tang, Jianguo

2010-08-01

Aging is a natural consequence of a society developing process. Although many adults retain good hearing as they aging, hearing loss related with age-presbycusis which can vary in severity from mild to substantial is common among elderly persons. There are a number of pathophysiological processes underlying age-related changes in the auditory system as well as in the central nervous systems. Many studies have been dedicated to the illustration of risk factors accumulating presbycusis such as heritability, environment factors, medical conditions, free radical (reactive oxygen species, ROS) and damage of mitochondrial DNA. Left untreated, presbycusis can not only lead sufferers to reduced quality of life, isolation, dependence and frustration, but also affect the healthy people around. These can be partly corrected using hearing aids, but it is not enough, more and more strategies of treatment based on the findings associating with presbycusis should be added rather than using single hearing aids. We review here the pathophysiology; heritability, susceptibility genes and other risk factors including environmental, medical, especially free radical (ROS) and damage of mitochondrial DNA; and some strategies of treatment, as well as promising rehabilitations associating with presbycusis.

Memory Loss: 7 Tips to Improve Your Memory

Science.gov (United States)

... re not alone. Everyone forgets things occasionally. Still, memory loss is nothing to take lightly. Although there are no guarantees when it comes to preventing memory loss or dementia, certain activities might help. Consider ...

Mechanisms of Age-Related Decline in Memory Search across the Adult Life Span

Science.gov (United States)

Hills, Thomas T.; Mata, Rui; Wilke, Andreas; Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R.

2013-01-01

Three alternative mechanisms for age-related decline in memory search have been proposed, which result from either reduced processing speed (global slowing hypothesis), overpersistence on categories (cluster-switching hypothesis), or the inability to maintain focus on local cues related to a decline in working memory (cue-maintenance hypothesis).…

Sleep loss produces false memories.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susanne Diekelmann

Full Text Available People sometimes claim with high confidence to remember events that in fact never happened, typically due to strong semantic associations with actually encoded events. Sleep is known to provide optimal neurobiological conditions for consolidation of memories for long-term storage, whereas sleep deprivation acutely impairs retrieval of stored memories. Here, focusing on the role of sleep-related memory processes, we tested whether false memories can be created (a as enduring memory representations due to a consolidation-associated reorganization of new memory representations during post-learning sleep and/or (b as an acute retrieval-related phenomenon induced by sleep deprivation at memory testing. According to the Deese, Roediger, McDermott (DRM false memory paradigm, subjects learned lists of semantically associated words (e.g., "night", "dark", "coal",..., lacking the strongest common associate or theme word (here: "black". Subjects either slept or stayed awake immediately after learning, and they were either sleep deprived or not at recognition testing 9, 33, or 44 hours after learning. Sleep deprivation at retrieval, but not sleep following learning, critically enhanced false memories of theme words. This effect was abolished by caffeine administration prior to retrieval, indicating that adenosinergic mechanisms can contribute to the generation of false memories associated with sleep loss.

The Tyrosine Phosphatase STEP Is Involved in Age-Related Memory Decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Castonguay, David; Dufort-Gervais, Julien; Ménard, Caroline; Chatterjee, Manavi; Quirion, Rémi; Bontempi, Bruno; Schneider, Jay S; Arnsten, Amy F T; Nairn, Angus C; Norris, Christopher M; Ferland, Guylaine; Bézard, Erwan; Gaudreau, Pierrette; Lombroso, Paul J; Brouillette, Jonathan

2018-04-02

Cognitive disabilities that occur with age represent a growing and expensive health problem. Age-associated memory deficits are observed across many species, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be fully identified. Here, we report elevations in the levels and activity of the striatal-enriched phosphatase (STEP) in the hippocampus of aged memory-impaired mice and rats, in aged rhesus monkeys, and in people diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The accumulation of STEP with aging is related to dysfunction of the ubiquitin-proteasome system that normally leads to the degradation of STEP. Higher level of active STEP is linked to enhanced dephosphorylation of its substrates GluN2B and ERK1/2, CREB inactivation, and a decrease in total levels of GluN2B and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). These molecular events are reversed in aged STEP knockout and heterozygous mice, which perform similarly to young control mice in the Morris water maze (MWM) and Y-maze tasks. In addition, administration of the STEP inhibitor TC-2153 to old rats significantly improved performance in a delayed alternation T-maze memory task. In contrast, viral-mediated STEP overexpression in the hippocampus is sufficient to induce memory impairment in the MWM and Y-maze tests, and these cognitive deficits are reversed by STEP inhibition. In old LOU/C/Jall rats, a model of healthy aging with preserved memory capacities, levels of STEP and GluN2B are stable, and phosphorylation of GluN2B and ERK1/2 is unaltered. Altogether, these data suggest that elevated levels of STEP that appear with advancing age in several species contribute to the cognitive declines associated with aging. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Isolating Age-Group Differences in Working Memory Load-Related Neural Activity: Assessing the Contribution of Working Memory Capacity Using a Partial-Trial fMRI Method

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Ilana J.; Rivera, Hannah G.; Rypma, Bart

2013-01-01

Previous studies examining age-group differences in working memory load-related neural activity have yielded mixed results. When present, age-group differences in working memory capacity are frequently proposed to underlie these neural effects. However, direct relationships between working memory capacity and working memory load-related activity have only been observed in younger adults. These relationships remain untested in healthy aging. Therefore, the present study examined patterns of working memory load-related activity in 22 younger and 20 older adults and assessed the contribution of working memory capacity to these load-related effects. Participants performed a partial-trial delayed response item recognition task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this task, participants encoded either 2 or 6 letters, maintained them during a delay, and then indicated whether a probe was present in the memory set. Behavioral results revealed faster and more accurate responses to load 2 versus 6, with age-group differences in this load condition effect for the accuracy measure. Neuroimaging results revealed one region (medial superior frontal gyrus) that showed age-group differences in load-related activity during the retrieval period, with less (greater) neural activity for the low versus high load condition in younger (older) adults. Furthermore, for older adults, load-related activity did not vary as a function of working memory capacity. Thus, working memory-related activity varies with healthy aging, but these patterns are not due solely to working memory capacity. Neurocognitive aging theories that feature capacity will need to account for these results. PMID:23357076

Isolating age-group differences in working memory load-related neural activity: assessing the contribution of working memory capacity using a partial-trial fMRI method.

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Ilana J; Rivera, Hannah G; Rypma, Bart

2013-05-15

Previous studies examining age-group differences in working memory load-related neural activity have yielded mixed results. When present, age-group differences in working memory capacity are frequently proposed to underlie these neural effects. However, direct relationships between working memory capacity and working memory load-related activity have only been observed in younger adults. These relationships remain untested in healthy aging. Therefore, the present study examined patterns of working memory load-related activity in 22 younger and 20 older adults and assessed the contribution of working memory capacity to these load-related effects. Participants performed a partial-trial delayed response item recognition task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this task, participants encoded either 2 or 6 letters, maintained them during a delay, and then indicated whether a probe was present in the memory set. Behavioral results revealed faster and more accurate responses to load 2 versus 6, with age-group differences in this load condition effect for the accuracy measure. Neuroimaging results revealed one region (medial superior frontal gyrus) that showed age-group differences in load-related activity during the retrieval period, with less (greater) neural activity for the low versus high load condition in younger (older) adults. Furthermore, for older adults, load-related activity did not vary as a function of working memory capacity. Thus, working memory-related activity varies with healthy aging, but these patterns are not due solely to working memory capacity. Neurocognitive aging theories that feature capacity will need to account for these results. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Repetition Priming in Adults with Williams Syndrome: Age-Related Dissociation between Implicit and Explicit Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Krinsky-McHale, Sharon J.; Kittler, Phyllis; Brown, W. Ted; Jenkins, Edmund C.; Devenny, Darlynne A.

2005-01-01

We examined implicit and explicit memory in adults with Williams syndrome. An age-related dissociation was found; repetition priming (reflecting implicit memory) did not show change with age, but free recall (reflecting explicit memory) was markedly reduced. We also compared the performance of adults with Williams syndrome to adults with Down…

Effects of hearing loss on speech recognition under distracting conditions and working memory in the elderly

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na W

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Wondo Na,1 Gibbeum Kim,1 Gungu Kim,1 Woojae Han,2 Jinsook Kim2 1Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Graduate School, 2Division of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Research Institute of Audiology and Speech Pathology, College of Natural Sciences, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea Purpose: The current study aimed to evaluate hearing-related changes in terms of speech-in-noise processing, fast-rate speech processing, and working memory; and to identify which of these three factors is significantly affected by age-related hearing loss.Methods: One hundred subjects aged 65–84 years participated in the study. They were classified into four groups ranging from normal hearing to moderate-to-severe hearing loss. All the participants were tested for speech perception in quiet and noisy conditions and for speech perception with time alteration in quiet conditions. Forward- and backward-digit span tests were also conducted to measure the participants’ working memory.Results: 1 As the level of background noise increased, speech perception scores systematically decreased in all the groups. This pattern was more noticeable in the three hearing-impaired groups than in the normal hearing group. 2 As the speech rate increased faster, speech perception scores decreased. A significant interaction was found between speed of speech and hearing loss. In particular, 30% of compressed sentences revealed a clear differentiation between moderate hearing loss and moderate-to-severe hearing loss. 3 Although all the groups showed a longer span on the forward-digit span test than the backward-digit span test, there was no significant difference as a function of hearing loss.Conclusion: The degree of hearing loss strongly affects the speech recognition of babble-masked and time-compressed speech in the elderly but does not affect the working memory. We expect these results to be applied to appropriate rehabilitation strategies for hearing

Age-Related Hearing Loss: Quality of Care for Quality of Life

Science.gov (United States)

Li-Korotky, Ha-Sheng

2012-01-01

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL), known as presbycusis, is characterized by progressive deterioration of auditory sensitivity, loss of the auditory sensory cells, and central processing functions associated with the aging process. ARHL is the third most prevalent chronic condition in older Americans, after hypertension and arthritis, and is a…

Cognitive and neuropsychological underpinnings of relational and conjunctive working memory binding across age.

Science.gov (United States)

van Geldorp, Bonnie; Parra, Mario A; Kessels, Roy P C

2015-01-01

The ability to form associations (i.e., binding) is critical for memory formation. Recent studies suggest that aging specifically affects relational binding (associating separate features) but not conjunctive binding (integrating features within an object). Possibly, this dissociation may be driven by the spatial nature of the studies so far. Alternatively, relational binding may simply require more attentional resources. We assessed relational and conjunctive binding in three age groups and we included an interfering task (i.e., an articulatory suppression task). Binding was examined in a working memory (WM) task using non-spatial features: shape and colour. Thirty-one young adults (mean age = 22.35), 30 middle-aged adults (mean age = 54.80) and 30 older adults (mean age = 70.27) performed the task. Results show an effect of type of binding and an effect of age but no interaction between type of binding and age. The interaction between type of binding and interference was significant. These results indicate that aging affects relational binding and conjunctive binding similarly. However, relational binding is more susceptible to interference than conjunctive binding, which suggests that relational binding may require more attentional resources. We suggest that a general decline in WM resources associated with frontal dysfunction underlies age-related deficits in WM binding.

Short-term blueberry-enriched diet prevents and reverses object recognition memory loss in aging rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Malin, David H; Lee, David R; Goyarzu, Pilar; Chang, Yu-Hsuan; Ennis, Lalanya J; Beckett, Elizabeth; Shukitt-Hale, Barbara; Joseph, James A

2011-03-01

Previously, 4 mo of a blueberry-enriched (BB) antioxidant diet prevented impaired object recognition memory in aging rats. Experiment 1 determined whether 1- and 2-mo BB diets would have a similar effect and whether the benefits would disappear promptly after terminating the diets. Experiment 2 determined whether a 1-mo BB diet could subsequently reverse existing object memory impairment in aging rats. In experiment 1, Fischer-344 rats were maintained on an appropriate control diet or on 1 or 2 mo of the BB diet before testing object memory at 19 mo postnatally. In experiment 2, rats were tested for object recognition memory at 19 mo and again at 20 mo after 1 mo of maintenance on a 2% BB or control diet. In experiment 1, the control group performed no better than chance, whereas the 1- and 2-mo BB diet groups performed similarly and significantly better than controls. The 2-mo BB-diet group, but not the 1-mo group, maintained its performance over a subsequent month on a standard laboratory diet. In experiment 2, the 19-mo-old rats performed near chance. At 20 mo of age, the rats subsequently maintained on the BB diet significantly increased their object memory scores, whereas the control diet group exhibited a non-significant decline. The change in object memory scores differed significantly between the two diet groups. These results suggest that a considerable degree of age-related object memory decline can be prevented and reversed by brief maintenance on BB diets. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age-related changes of frontal-midline theta is predictive of efficient memory maintenance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kardos, Z; Tóth, B; Boha, R; File, B; Molnár, M

2014-07-25

Frontal areas are thought to be the coordinators of working memory processes by controlling other brain areas reflected by oscillatory activities like frontal-midline theta (4-7 Hz). With aging substantial changes can be observed in the frontal brain areas, presumably leading to age-associated changes in cortical correlates of cognitive functioning. The present study aimed to test whether altered frontal-midline theta dynamics during working memory maintenance may underlie the capacity deficits observed in older adults. 33-channel EEG was recorded in young (18-26 years, N=20) and old (60-71 years, N=16) adults during the retention period of a visual delayed match-to-sample task, in which they had to maintain arrays of 3 or 5 colored squares. An additional visual odd-ball task was used to be able to measure the electrophysiological indices of sustained attentional processes. Old participants showed reduced frontal theta activity during both tasks compared to the young group. In the young memory maintenance-related frontal-midline theta activity was shown to be sensitive both to the increased memory demands and to efficient subsequent memory performance, whereas the old adults showed no such task-related difference in the frontal theta activity. The decrease of frontal-midline theta activity in the old group indicates that cerebral aging may alter the cortical circuitries of theta dynamics, thereby leading to age-associated decline of working memory maintenance function. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Entorhinal Tau Pathology, Episodic Memory Decline, and Neurodegeneration in Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Maass, Anne; Lockhart, Samuel N; Harrison, Theresa M; Bell, Rachel K; Mellinger, Taylor; Swinnerton, Kaitlin; Baker, Suzanne L; Rabinovici, Gil D; Jagust, William J

2018-01-17

. Using tau-specific and Aβ-specific positron emission tomography tracers, we show that in vivo MTL tau pathology is associated with episodic-memory performance and MTL atrophy in cognitively normal adults, independent of Aβ. Our data point to MTL tau pathology, particularly in the entorhinal cortex, as a substrate of age-related episodic-memory loss. Copyright © 2018 the authors 0270-6474/18/380530-14$15.00/0.

Age-related hearing loss in sea lions and their scientists

Science.gov (United States)

Schusterman, Ronald J.; Southall, Brandon; Kastak, David; Reichmuth Kastak, Colleen

2002-05-01

Interest in the hearing capabilities of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) was first stimulated by the echolocation hypothesis and more recently by rising concern about coastal noise pollution. During a series of audiometric tests, we measured the absolute hearing sensitivity of two sea lions and two of their human investigators. Aerial hearing curves for each subject were obtained with a go/no-go procedure and standard psychophysics. Additionally, underwater hearing curves were obtained for the sea lions using the same procedures. Underwater, the older sea lion (22-25 years of age) showed hearing losses relative to the younger sea lion (13-16 years) that ranged from 10 dB at lower frequencies to 50 dB near the upper frequency limit. The older sea lions' hearing losses in air were consistent with those measured underwater. The older human (69 years) tested also showed losses relative to the younger human (22 years). These differences ranged from 15 dB at lower frequencies up to 35 dB at the highest frequency tested. The results obtained in this study document age-related hearing losses in sea lions and humans. The findings are consistent with data on presbycusis in other mammalian species, showing that maximum hearing loss occurs at the highest frequencies.

Executive and memory correlates of age-related differences in wayfinding performances using a virtual reality application.

Science.gov (United States)

Taillade, Mathieu; Sauzéon, Hélène; Dejos, Marie; Pala, Prashant Arvind; Larrue, Florian; Wallet, Grégory; Gross, Christian; N'Kaoua, Bernard

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate in large-scale spaces wayfinding and spatial learning difficulties for older adults in relation to the executive and memory decline associated with aging. We compared virtual reality (VR)-based wayfinding and spatial memory performances between young and older adults. Wayfinding and spatial memory performances were correlated with classical measures of executive and visuo-spatial memory functions, but also with self-reported estimates of wayfinding difficulties. We obtained a significant effect of age on wayfinding performances but not on spatial memory performances. The overall correlations showed significant correlations between the wayfinding performances and the classical measures of both executive and visuo-spatial memory, but only when the age factor was not partialled out. Also, older adults underestimated their wayfinding difficulties. A significant relationship between the wayfinding performances and self-reported wayfinding difficulty estimates is found, but only when the age effect was partialled out. These results show that, even when older adults have an equivalent spatial knowledge to young adults, they had greater difficulties with the wayfinding task, supporting an executive decline view in age-related wayfinding difficulties. However, the correlation results are in favor of both the memory and executive decline views as mediators of age-related differences in wayfinding performances. This is discussed in terms of the relationships between memory and executive functioning in wayfinding task orchestration. Our results also favor the use of objective assessments of everyday navigation difficulties in virtual applications, instead of self-reported questionnaires, since older adults showed difficulties in estimating their everyday wayfinding problems.

Is the relative increase in income inequality related to tooth loss in middle-aged adults?

Science.gov (United States)

Goulart, Mariél de Aquino; Vettore, Mario Vianna

2016-01-01

To assess whether Brazilian middle-aged adults living in cities that experienced a relative increase on income inequality were more likely to have severe tooth loss and lack a functional dentition. Data on Brazilian adults aged 35-44 years from state capitals and Federal District from the 2010 Brazilian Oral Health Survey (SBBrasil 2010) were analyzed. Clinically assessed tooth loss outcomes were severe tooth loss (Income inequality was assessed by Gini Index in 1991, 2000, and 2003 using tertiles of distribution. Variation in Gini Index was assessed by changes in the tertiles distribution between years. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 percent confidence intervals (95 percent CI) between variation in income inequality and tooth loss outcomes adjusting for individual socio-demographic characteristics. Prevalence of severe tooth loss and lack of functional dentition was 4.8 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively. Individuals living in cities with moderate and high increase in income inequality between 1991 and 2003 were more likely to have severe tooth loss and lack a functional dentition in 2010 compared with those living in cities with stable income inequality in the same period. Relationships between low family income and both tooth loss outcomes were significantly attenuated by relative increases in income inequality. Relative increases in income inequality were significantly associated with severe tooth loss and lack of a functional dentition in Brazilian middle-aged adults. © 2015 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

Recognition Memory in Amnestic-Mild Cognitive Impairment: Insights from Event-Related Potentials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David A Wolk

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Episodic memory loss is the hallmark cognitive dysfunction associated with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (a-MCI frequently represents a transitional stage between normal aging and early AD. A better understanding of the qualitative features of memory loss in a-MCI may have important implications for predicting those most likely to harbor AD-related pathology and for disease monitoring. Dual process models of memory argue that recognition memory is subserved by the dissociable processes of recollection and familiarity. Work studying recognition memory in a-MCI from this perspective has been controversial, particularly with regard to the integrity of familiarity. Event-related potentials (ERPs offer an alternative means for assessing these functions without the associated assumptions of behavioral estimation methods. ERPs were recorded while a-MCI patients and cognitively normal (CN age-matched adults performed a recognition memory task. When retrieval success was measured (hits versus correct rejections in which performance was matched by group, a-MCI patients displayed similar neural correlates to that of the CN group, including modulation of the FN400 and the late parietal complex (LPC which are thought to index familiarity and recollection, respectively. Alternatively, when the integrity of these components were measured based on retrieval attempts (studied versus unstudied items, a-MCI patients displayed a reduced FN400 and LPC. Furthermore, modulation of the FN400 correlated with a behavioral estimate of familiarity and the LPC with a behavioral estimates of recollection obtained in a separate experiment in the same individuals, consistent with the proposed mappings of these indices. These results support a global decline of recognition memory in a-MCI, which suggests that the memory loss of prodromal AD may be qualitatively distinct from normal aging.

The ties to unbind: Age-related differences in feature (unbinding in working memory for emotional faces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Didem ePehlivanoglu

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In the present study, we investigated age-related differences in the processing of emotional stimuli. Specifically, we were interested in whether older adults would show deficits in unbinding emotional expression (i.e., either no emotion, happiness, anger, or disgust from bound stimuli (i.e., photographs of faces expressing these emotions, as a hyperbinding account of age-related differences in working memory would predict. Younger and older adults completed different N-Back tasks (side-by-side 0-Back, 1-Back, 2-Back under three conditions: match/mismatch judgments based on either the identity of the face (identity condition, the face’s emotional expression (expression condition, or both identity and expression of the face (binding condition. Both age groups performed more slowly and with lower accuracy in the expression condition than in the binding condition, indicating the presence of an unbinding process. This unbinding effect was more pronounced in older adults than in younger adults, but only in the 2-Back task. Thus, older adults seemed to have a specific deficit in unbinding in working memory, over and beyond age-related differences observed in perceptual processing (0-Back and attention/short-term memory (1-Back. Additionally, no age-related differences were found in accuracy in the 0-Back task, but such differences emerged in the 1-Back task, and were further magnified in the 2-Back task, indicating independent age-related differences in attention/short-term memory and working memory. Pupil dilation data confirmed that the attention/short-term memory version of the task (1-Back is more effortful in older adults than younger adults.

Modifying memory for a museum tour in older adults: Reactivation-related updating that enhances and distorts memory is reduced in ageing.

Science.gov (United States)

St Jacques, Peggy L; Montgomery, Daniel; Schacter, Daniel L

2015-01-01

Memory reactivation, the activation of a latent memory trace when we are reminded of a past experience, strengthens memory but can also contribute to distortions if new information present during reactivation is integrated with existing memory. In a previous study in young adults we found that the quality of memory reactivation, manipulated using the principle of encoding specificity and indexed by recollection ratings, modulated subsequent true and false memories for events experienced during a museum tour. Here in this study, we examined age-related changes in the quality of memory reactivation on subsequent memory. Memories of museum stops in young and older adults were reactivated and then immediately followed by the presentation of a novel lure photo from an alternate tour version (i.e., reactivation plus new information). There was an increase in subsequent true memories for reactivated targets and for subsequent false memories for lures that followed reactivated targets, when compared to baseline target and lure photos. However, the influence of reactivation on subsequent memories was reduced in older adults. These data reveal that ageing alters reactivation-related updating processes that allow memories to be strengthened and updated with new information, consequently reducing memory distortions in older adults compared to young adults.

The Effects of Age on Short-Term Memory Loss due to Proactive Interference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alisha Berkauzer

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This project focused on how proactive interference affects the short-term memory of people based on their age. The goal was to find the prime age for learning information and storing it in one's memory. Seven people from ages fifteen to forty were tested individually, using a set color pattern, in order to see how well each individual could remember the different color patterns as difficulty of the pattern increased. The obtained data was fitted by the polynomial regression. The “fitted” curve shows that as age increases, the individual's performance in memorizing the more difficult patterns decreases. Also, the peaked level of memory performance was found to be 24 for our experimental data.

Prospective memory and aging: evidence for preserved spontaneous retrieval with exact but not related cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Mullet, Hillary G; Scullin, Michael K; Hess, Theodore J; Scullin, Rachel B; Arnold, Kathleen M; Einstein, Gilles O

2013-12-01

We examined whether normal aging spares or compromises cue-driven spontaneous retrieval processes that support prospective remembering. In Experiment 1, young and older adults performed prospective-memory tasks that required either strategic monitoring processes for retrieval (nonfocal) or for which participants relied on spontaneous retrieval processes (focal). We found age differences for nonfocal, but not focal, prospective-memory performance. Experiments 2 and 3 used an intention-interference paradigm in which participants were asked to perform a prospective-memory task (e.g., press "Q" when the word money appears) in the context of an image-rating task and were then told to suspend their prospective-memory intention until after completing an intervening lexical-decision task. During the lexical-decision task, we presented the exact prospective-memory cue (e.g., money; Experiments 2 and 3) or a semantically related lure (e.g., wallet; Experiment 3), and we inferred spontaneous retrieval from slowed lexical-decision responses to these items relative to matched control items. Young and older adults showed significant slowing when the exact prospective-memory cue was presented. Only young adults, however, showed significant slowing to the semantically related lure items. Collectively, these results partially support the multiprocess theory prediction that aging spares spontaneous retrieval processes. Spontaneous retrieval processes may become less sensitive with aging, such that older adults are less likely to respond to cues that do not exactly match their encoded targets. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Age-related decline in verbal learning is moderated by demographic factors, working memory capacity, and presence of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Constantinidou, Fofi; Zaganas, Ioannis; Papastefanakis, Emmanouil; Kasselimis, Dimitrios; Nidos, Andreas; Simos, Panagiotis G

2014-09-01

Age-related memory changes are highly varied and heterogeneous. The study examined the rate of decline in verbal episodic memory as a function of education level, auditory attention span and verbal working memory capacity, and diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI). Data were available on a community sample of 653 adults aged 17-86 years and 70 patients with a-MCI recruited from eight broad geographic areas in Greece and Cyprus. Measures of auditory attention span and working memory capacity (digits forward and backward) and verbal episodic memory (Auditory Verbal Learning Test [AVLT]) were used. Moderated mediation regressions on data from the community sample did not reveal significant effects of education level on the rate of age-related decline in AVLT indices. The presence of a-MCI was a significant moderator of the direct effect of Age on both immediate and delayed episodic memory indices. The rate of age-related decline in verbal episodic memory is normally mediated by working memory capacity. Moreover, in persons who display poor episodic memory capacity (a-MCI group), age-related memory decline is expected to advance more rapidly for those who also display relatively poor verbal working memory capacity.

Effects of hearing loss on speech recognition under distracting conditions and working memory in the elderly.

Science.gov (United States)

Na, Wondo; Kim, Gibbeum; Kim, Gungu; Han, Woojae; Kim, Jinsook

2017-01-01

The current study aimed to evaluate hearing-related changes in terms of speech-in-noise processing, fast-rate speech processing, and working memory; and to identify which of these three factors is significantly affected by age-related hearing loss. One hundred subjects aged 65-84 years participated in the study. They were classified into four groups ranging from normal hearing to moderate-to-severe hearing loss. All the participants were tested for speech perception in quiet and noisy conditions and for speech perception with time alteration in quiet conditions. Forward- and backward-digit span tests were also conducted to measure the participants' working memory. 1) As the level of background noise increased, speech perception scores systematically decreased in all the groups. This pattern was more noticeable in the three hearing-impaired groups than in the normal hearing group. 2) As the speech rate increased faster, speech perception scores decreased. A significant interaction was found between speed of speech and hearing loss. In particular, 30% of compressed sentences revealed a clear differentiation between moderate hearing loss and moderate-to-severe hearing loss. 3) Although all the groups showed a longer span on the forward-digit span test than the backward-digit span test, there was no significant difference as a function of hearing loss. The degree of hearing loss strongly affects the speech recognition of babble-masked and time-compressed speech in the elderly but does not affect the working memory. We expect these results to be applied to appropriate rehabilitation strategies for hearing-impaired elderly who experience difficulty in communication.

Tests of the DRYAD theory of the age-related deficit in memory for context: Not about context, and not about aging

Science.gov (United States)

Benjamin, Aaron S.; Diaz, Michael; Matzen, Laura E.; Johnson, Benjamin

2011-01-01

Older adults exhibit a disproportionate deficit in their ability to recover contextual elements or source information about prior encounters with stimuli. A recent theoretical account, DRYAD (Benjamin, 2010), attributes this selective deficit to a global decrease in memory fidelity with age, moderated by weak representation of contextual information. The predictions of DRYAD are tested here in three experiments. We show that an age-related deficit obtains for whichever aspect of the stimulus subjects’ attention is directed away from during encoding (Experiment 1), suggesting a central role for attention in producing the age-related deficit in context. We also show that an analogous deficit can be elicited within young subjects with a manipulation of study time (Experiment 2), suggesting that any means of reducing memory fidelity yields an interaction of the same form as the age-related effect. Experiment 3 evaluates the critical prediction of DRYAD that endorsement probability in an exclusion task should vary nonmonotonically with memory strength. This prediction was confirmed by assessing the shape of the forgetting function in a continuous exclusion task. The results are consistent with the DRYAD account of aging and memory judgments and do not support the widely held view that aging entails the selective disruption of processes involved in encoding, storing, or retrieving contextual information. PMID:21875219

Aging memories: differential decay of episodic memory components.

Science.gov (United States)

Talamini, Lucia M; Gorree, Eva

2012-05-17

Some memories about events can persist for decades, even a lifetime. However, recent memories incorporate rich sensory information, including knowledge on the spatial and temporal ordering of event features, while old memories typically lack this "filmic" quality. We suggest that this apparent change in the nature of memories may reflect a preferential loss of hippocampus-dependent, configurational information over more cortically based memory components, including memory for individual objects. The current study systematically tests this hypothesis, using a new paradigm that allows the contemporaneous assessment of memory for objects, object pairings, and object-position conjunctions. Retention of each memory component was tested, at multiple intervals, up to 3 mo following encoding. The three memory subtasks adopted the same retrieval paradigm and were matched for initial difficulty. Results show differential decay of the tested episodic memory components, whereby memory for configurational aspects of a scene (objects' co-occurrence and object position) decays faster than memory for featured objects. Interestingly, memory requiring a visually detailed object representation decays at a similar rate as global object recognition, arguing against interpretations based on task difficulty and against the notion that (visual) detail is forgotten preferentially. These findings show that memories undergo qualitative changes as they age. More specifically, event memories become less configurational over time, preferentially losing some of the higher order associations that are dependent on the hippocampus for initial fast encoding. Implications for theories of long-term memory are discussed.

Insulin signaling and dietary restriction differentially influence the decline of learning and memory with age.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amanda L Kauffman

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Of all the age-related declines, memory loss is one of the most devastating. While conditions that increase longevity have been identified, the effects of these longevity-promoting factors on learning and memory are unknown. Here we show that the C. elegans Insulin/IGF-1 receptor mutant daf-2 improves memory performance early in adulthood and maintains learning ability better with age but, surprisingly, demonstrates no extension in long-term memory with age. By contrast, eat-2 mutants, a model of Dietary Restriction (DR, exhibit impaired long-term memory in young adulthood but maintain this level of memory longer with age. We find that crh-1, the C. elegans homolog of the CREB transcription factor, is required for long-term associative memory, but not for learning or short-term memory. The expression of crh-1 declines with age and differs in the longevity mutants, and CREB expression and activity correlate with memory performance. Our results suggest that specific longevity treatments have acute and long-term effects on cognitive functions that decline with age through their regulation of rate-limiting genes required for learning and memory.

Age-related differences in acquisition of perceptual-motor skills: working memory as a mediator.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Kristen M; Partridge, Ty; Raz, Naftali

2008-03-01

Aging is associated with reduced performance on information processing speed, memory, and executive functions tasks. Although older adults are also less apt in acquiring new perceptual-motor skills, it is unclear whether and how skill acquisition difficulties are associated with age-related general cognitive differences. We addressed this question by examining structural relations among measures of cognitive resources (working memory) and indices of perceptual-motor skill acquisition (pursuit rotor and mirror tracing) in 96 healthy adults aged 19-80 years of age. Three competing structural models were tested: a single (common) factor model, a dual correlated factors model, and a hierarchical dual-factor model. The third model provided the best fit to the data, indicating age differences in simple perceptual-motor skill are partially mediated by more complex abilities.

Age-related Hearing Impairment and the Triad of Acquired Hearing Loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao-Hui eYang

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Understanding underlying pathological mechanisms is prerequisite for a sensible design of protective therapies against hearing loss. The triad of age-related, noise-generated, and drug-induced hearing loss ¬¬displays intriguing similarities in some cellular responses of cochlear sensory cells such as a potential involvement of reactive oxygen species and apoptotic and necrotic cell death. On the other hand, detailed studies have revealed that molecular pathways are considerably complex and, importantly, it has become clear that pharmacological protection successful against one form of hearing loss will not necessarily protect against another. This review will summarize pathological and pathophysiological features of age-related hearing impairment (ARHI in human and animal models and address selected aspects of the commonality (or lack thereof of cellular responses in ARHI to drugs and noise.

Counteracting age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bechshøft, Rasmus; Reitelseder, Søren; Højfeldt, Grith

2016-01-01

Background Aging is associated with decreased muscle mass and functional capacity, which in turn decrease quality of life. The number of citizens over the age of 65 years in the Western world will increase by 50 % over the next four decades, and this demographic shift brings forth new challenges...... at both societal and individual levels. Only a few longitudinal studies have been reported, but whey protein supplementation seems to improve muscle mass and function, and its combination with heavy strength training appears even more effective. However, heavy resistance training may reduce adherence...... Intervention Study will generate scientific evidence and recommendations to counteract age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass in elderly individuals....

Selective alterations of neurons and circuits related to early memory loss in Alzheimer's disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María eLlorens-Martín

2014-05-01

Full Text Available A progressive loss of episodic memory is a well-known clinical symptom that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease (AD. The beginning of this loss of memory has been associated with the very early, pathological accumulation of tau and neuronal degeneration observed in the entorhinal cortex (EC. Tau-related pathology is thought to then spread progressively to the hippocampal formation and other brain areas as the disease progresses. The major cortical afferent source of the hippocampus and dentate gyrus is the EC through the perforant pathway. At least two main circuits participate in the connection between EC and the hippocampus; one originating in layer II and the other in layer III of the EC giving rise to the classical trisynaptic (ECII→dentate gyrus→CA3→CA1 and monosynaptic (ECIII→CA1 circuits. Thus, the study of the early pathological changes in these circuits is of great interest. In this review, we will discuss mainly the alterations of the granule cell neurons of the dentate gyrus and the atrophy of CA1 pyramidal neurons that occur in AD in relation to the possible differential alterations of these two main circuits.

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT Genotype Affects Age-Related Changes in Plasticity in Working Memory: A Pilot Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephan Heinzel

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. Recent work suggests that a genetic variation associated with increased dopamine metabolism in the prefrontal cortex (catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met; COMT amplifies age-related changes in working memory performance. Research on younger adults indicates that the influence of dopamine-related genetic polymorphisms on working memory performance increases when testing the cognitive limits through training. To date, this has not been studied in older adults. Method. Here we investigate the effect of COMT genotype on plasticity in working memory in a sample of 14 younger (aged 24–30 years and 25 older (aged 60–75 years healthy adults. Participants underwent adaptive training in the n-back working memory task over 12 sessions under increasing difficulty conditions. Results. Both younger and older adults exhibited sizeable behavioral plasticity through training (P<.001, which was larger in younger as compared to older adults (P<.001. Age-related differences were qualified by an interaction with COMT genotype (P<.001, and this interaction was due to decreased behavioral plasticity in older adults carrying the Val/Val genotype, while there was no effect of genotype in younger adults. Discussion. Our findings indicate that age-related changes in plasticity in working memory are critically affected by genetic variation in prefrontal dopamine metabolism.

Increased working memory-related brain activity in middle-aged women with cognitive complaints.

Science.gov (United States)

Dumas, Julie A; Kutz, Amanda M; McDonald, Brenna C; Naylor, Magdalena R; Pfaff, Ashley C; Saykin, Andrew J; Newhouse, Paul A

2013-04-01

Individuals who report subjective cognitive complaints but perform normally on neuropsychological tests might be at increased risk for pathological cognitive aging. The current study examined the effects of the presence of subjective cognitive complaints on functional brain activity during a working memory task in a sample of middle-aged postmenopausal women. Twenty-three postmenopausal women aged 50-60 completed a cognitive complaint battery of questionnaires. Using 20% of items endorsed as the threshold, 12 women were categorized as cognitive complainers (CC) and 11 were noncomplainers (NC). All subjects then took part in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning session during which they completed a visual-verbal N-back test of working memory. Results showed no difference in working memory performance between CC and NC groups. However, the CC group showed greater activation relative to the NC group in a broad network involved in working memory including the middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann area [BA] 9 and 10), the precuneus (BA 7), and the cingulate gyrus (BA 24 and 32). The CC group recruited additional regions of the working memory network compared with the NC group as the working memory load and difficulty of the task increased. This study showed brain activation differences during working memory performance in a middle-aged group of postmenopausal women with subjective cognitive complaints but without objective cognitive deficit. These findings suggest that subjective cognitive complaints in postmenopausal women might be associated with increased cortical activity during effort-demanding cognitive tasks. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Memory loss after electroconvulsive treatment--may the sudden alleviation of depression-inducing memories explain patient despair?

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, John E

2011-12-01

Electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) has developed over 70 years to a modern, effective way of lifting depressive moods. Memory loss after electroconvulsive treatment is the only remaining relevant criticism of the treatment modality when considering the overall rate of remission from this treatment compared to all other treatment modalities. A depressive state impedes memory. After treatment memory improves on several qualities of cognition. However, comparing a person's memory ability from the months before depression started to the level after a course of ECT is never done, of obvious reasons. There are great clinical difficulties explaining who would develop memory problems, regardless of stimulation techniques, age or sex of the patient. The memory loss seen in some patients undergoing electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) is not explained by the treatment alone. After ECT unpleasant memories are disclosed rapidly and the patient may unconsciously try to defend herself by extending memory repression to other areas of memory. This may be unrelated to treatment modality, number of sessions or severity of depression. Psychological factors may partly explain why some patients unfold memory problems when the depression is rapidly lifted, rather than the treatment modality itself. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Relation of Age and Reading Ability to Memory Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Marrach, Alexa; Fireman, Gary

This study examined the relation of reading ability, age, and familiarity to iconic and short-term memory processing and how the familiarity of the stimuli affects recall. A total of 10 children in grades 2 through 6 and 10 adults were shown novel abstract forms, words, and non-words varying in order of approximation to English, for 50 msec., 500…

Resveratrol prevents age-related memory and mood dysfunction with increased hippocampal neurogenesis and microvasculature, and reduced glial activation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kodali, Maheedhar; Parihar, Vipan K; Hattiangady, Bharathi; Mishra, Vikas; Shuai, Bing; Shetty, Ashok K

2015-01-28

Greatly waned neurogenesis, diminished microvasculature, astrocyte hypertrophy and activated microglia are among the most conspicuous structural changes in the aged hippocampus. Because these alterations can contribute to age-related memory and mood impairments, strategies efficacious for mitigating these changes may preserve cognitive and mood function in old age. Resveratrol, a phytoalexin found in the skin of red grapes having angiogenic and antiinflammatory properties, appears ideal for easing these age-related changes. Hence, we examined the efficacy of resveratrol for counteracting age-related memory and mood impairments and the associated detrimental changes in the hippocampus. Two groups of male F344 rats in late middle-age having similar learning and memory abilities were chosen and treated with resveratrol or vehicle for four weeks. Analyses at ~25 months of age uncovered improved learning, memory and mood function in resveratrol-treated animals but impairments in vehicle-treated animals. Resveratrol-treated animals also displayed increased net neurogenesis and microvasculature, and diminished astrocyte hypertrophy and microglial activation in the hippocampus. These results provide novel evidence that resveratrol treatment in late middle age is efficacious for improving memory and mood function in old age. Modulation of the hippocampus plasticity and suppression of chronic low-level inflammation appear to underlie the functional benefits mediated by resveratrol.

Developmental Changes in Memory-Related Linguistic Skills and Their Relationship to Episodic Recall in Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Uehara, Izumi

2015-01-01

This longitudinal study of nine children examined two issues concerning infantile amnesia: the time at which memories for events experienced before the age of 3-4 years disappear from consciousness and whether this timing of memory loss is related to the development of specific aspects of episodic and autobiographical memory. This study followed children from infancy to early childhood and examined the central role of three verbal-cognitive milestones related to autobiographical memory: the age at which children begin to report autobiographical memories using the past tense (Milestone 1); the age at which they begin to verbally acknowledge past events (Milestone 2); and the age at which they begin to spontaneously use memory-related verbs (Milestone 3). As expected, memories of events that occurred before 3-4 years of age were affected by infantile amnesia. Achievement of these milestones followed almost the same developmental progression: Milestone 1 (1 year; 10 months (1;10) to 3 years; 4 months (3;4)) was followed by Milestones 2 (3;1 to 4;0) and 3 (3;5 to 4;4). Milestone 2 was typically related to the onset of infantile amnesia, whereas Milestone 1 occurred during the period for which the children became amnesic as they aged. These data suggest that linguistic meta-cognitive awareness of personal memory is the key feature in infantile amnesia.

Age-Related Hearing Loss

Science.gov (United States)

... 29, 2017 Granicus - Health Topics Languages Español Download PDF version Order free publications Find organizations Syndicate content Related Topics Do You Need a Hearing Test? Hearing Loss and Older Adults News Spatial organization of cells in the inner ear enables the sense and ...

Cross domain self-monitoring in anosognosia for memory loss in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, Silvia; Colvin, Leigh E; Vuorre, Matti; Cocchini, Gianna; Metcalfe, Janet; Huey, Edward D; Cosentino, Stephanie

2018-04-01

Anosognosia for memory loss is a common feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent theories have proposed that anosognosia, a disruption in awareness at a global level, may reflect specific deficits in self-monitoring, or local awareness. Though anosognosia for memory loss has been shown to relate to memory self-monitoring, it is not clear if it relates to self-monitoring deficits in other domains (i.e., motor). The current study examined this question by analyzing the relationship between anosognosia for memory loss, memory monitoring, and motor monitoring in 35 individuals with mild to moderate AD. Anosognosia was assessed via clinical interview before participants completed a metamemory task to measure memory monitoring, and a computerized agency task to measure motor monitoring. Cognitive and psychological measures included memory, executive functions, and mood. Memory monitoring was associated with motor monitoring; however, anosognosia was associated only with memory monitoring, and not motor monitoring. Cognition and mood related differently to each measure of self-awareness. Results are interpreted within a hierarchical model of awareness in which local self-monitoring processes are associated across domain, but appear to only contribute to a global level awareness in a domain-specific fashion. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bcl-2 over-expression fails to prevent age-related loss of calretinin positive neurons in the mouse dentate gyrus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Han Mingbo

2006-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cognitive performance declines with increasing age. Possible cellular mechanisms underlying this age-related functional decline remain incompletely understood. Early studies attributed this functional decline to age-related neuronal loss. Subsequent studies using unbiased stereological techniques found little or no neuronal loss during aging. However, studies using specific cellular markers found age-related loss of specific neuronal types. To test whether there is age-related loss of specific neuronal populations in the hippocampus, and subsequently, whether over-expression of the B-cell lymphoma protein-2 (Bcl-2 in these neurons could delay possible age-related neuronal loss, we examined calretinin (CR positive neurons in the mouse dentate gyrus during aging. Result In normal mice, there was an age-related loss of CR positive cells in the dentate gyrus. At the same region, there was no significant decrease of total numbers of neurons, which suggested that age-related loss of CR positive cells was due to the decrease of CR expression in these cells instead of cell death. In the transgenic mouse line over-expressing Bcl-2 in neurons, there was an age-related loss of CR positive cells. Interestingly, there was also an age-related neuronal loss in this transgenic mouse line. Conclusion These data suggest an age-related loss of CR positive neurons but not total neuronal loss in normal mice and this age-related neuronal change is not prevented by Bcl-2 over-expression.

Manipulating the reported age in earliest memories.

Science.gov (United States)

Wessel, Ineke; Schweig, Theresa; Huntjens, Rafaële J C

2017-11-02

Previous work suggests that the estimated age in adults' earliest autobiographical memories depends on age information implied by the experimental context [e.g., Kingo, O. S., Bohn, A., & Krøjgaard, P. (2013). Warm-up questions on early childhood memories affect the reported age of earliest memories in late adolescence. Memory, 21(2), 280-284. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2012.729598 ] and that the age in decontextualised snippets of memory is younger than in more complete accounts (i.e., event memories [Bruce, D., Wilcox-O'Hearn, L. A., Robinson, J. A., Phillips-Grant, K., Francis, L., & Smith, M. C. (2005). Fragment memories mark the end of childhood amnesia. Memory & Cognition, 33(4), 567-576. doi: 10.3758/BF03195324 ]). We examined the malleability of the estimated age in undergraduates' earliest memories and its relation with memory quality. In Study 1 (n = 141), vignettes referring to events happening at age 2 rendered earlier reported ages than examples referring to age 6. Exploratory analyses suggested that event memories were more sensitive to the age manipulation than memories representing a single, isolated scene (i.e., snapshots). In Study 2 (n = 162), asking self-relevant and public-event knowledge questions about participants' preschool years prior to retrieval yielded comparable average estimated ages. Both types of semantic knowledge questions rendered earlier memories than a no-age control task. Overall, the reported age in snapshots was younger than in event memories. However, age-differences between memory types across conditions were not statistically significant. Together, the results add to the growing literature indicating that the average age in earliest memories is not as fixed as previously thought.

The Effects of Age on Short-Term Memory Loss due to Proactive Interference

OpenAIRE

Alisha Berkauzer

2011-01-01

This project focused on how proactive interference affects the short-term memory of people based on their age. The goal was to find the prime age for learning information and storing it in one's memory. Seven people from ages fifteen to forty were tested individually, using a set color pattern, in order to see how well each individual could remember the different color patterns as difficulty of the pattern increased. The obtained data was fitted by the polynomial regression. The “fitted...

Consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and fish and risk of age-related hearing loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Gopinath, Bamini; Flood, Victoria M; Rochtchina, Elena; McMahon, Catherine M; Mitchell, Paul

2010-08-01

Identification of modifiable risk factors that could prevent or slow the development of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) would be valuable. Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake may be related to age-related hearing loss. We aimed to determine the association between dietary intakes of omega-3 (n-3) PUFAs and fish and the risk of presbycusis. The Blue Mountains Hearing Study is a population-based survey of age-related hearing loss (1997-1999 to 2002-2004). We collected dietary data by using a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire and calculated PUFA and fish intakes. In 2956 participants (aged > or =50 y), we measured presbycusis, which we defined as the pure-tone average of frequencies 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 kHz >25 decibels of hearing loss. There was an inverse association between total n-3 PUFA intake and prevalent hearing loss [odds ratio (OR) per SD increase in energy-adjusted n-3 PUFAs: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.99]. There was an inverse association between long-chain n-3 PUFAs and incident hearing loss (OR per SD increase in long-chain n-3 PUFAs: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.97). Participants who had > or =2 servings of fish/wk compared with participants who had consumption of > or =1 to consumption of fish and hearing loss. Dietary intervention with n-3 PUFAs could prevent or delay the development of age-related hearing loss.

The impact of level of education on age-related deficits in associative memory: Behavioral and neuropsychological perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Dwight J; Gargya, Sanchita; Kopeikin, Ksenia S; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2017-06-01

Older adults have difficulty forming associations and binding distinct item components despite mostly preserved item memory potentially because they rely on more automatic, rather than strategic, processing when attempting to form, store, and retrieve associations from memory. An intriguing possibility is that older adults with greater access to strategic processes (e.g., those with a high level of education) may be less susceptible to age-related associative memory deficits. Two experiments assessed the degree to which a high level of education provides an effective dose of cognitive reserve (CR), potentially preserving associative memory. Standard younger and older adults' item and associative memory performance was compared to older adults who had attained a high level of education (mostly doctoral degrees). In both experiments (Experiment 1: person-action pairs; Experiment 2: unrelated word pairs), consistent evidence was found that older adults, regardless of the level of education, exhibited an age-related associative memory deficit relative to younger adults. Interestingly, neuropsychological assessment of both older adult groups revealed greater frontal lobe, but not enhanced medial temporal lobe, functioning in the highly educated. As such, although the highly educated older adults exhibited greater frontal lobe functioning than the standard older adults, this did not aid in the reduction of the age-related associative memory deficit. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age-Related Hearing Loss in Mn-SOD Heterozygous Knockout Mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Makoto Kinoshita

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Age-related hearing loss (AHL reduces the quality of life for many elderly individuals. Manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD, one of the antioxidant enzymes acting within the mitochondria, plays a crucial role in scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS. To determine whether reduction in Mn-SOD accelerates AHL, we evaluated auditory function in Mn-SOD heterozygous knockout (HET mice and their littermate wild-type (WT C57BL/6 mice by means of auditory brainstem response (ABR. Mean ABR thresholds were significantly increased at 16 months when compared to those at 4 months in both WT and HET mice, but they did not significantly differ between them at either age. The extent of hair cell loss, spiral ganglion cell density, and thickness of the stria vascularis also did not differ between WT and HET mice at either age. At 16 months, immunoreactivity of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine was significantly greater in the SGC and SV in HET mice compared to WT mice, but that of 4-hydroxynonenal did not differ between them. These findings suggest that, although decrease of Mn-SOD by half may increase oxidative stress in the cochlea to some extent, it may not be sufficient to accelerate age-related cochlear damage under physiological aging process.

Anti-Epileptic Drugs Delay Age-Related Loss of Spiral Ganglion Neurons via T-type Calcium Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Debin; Gao, Xia; Perez, Philip; Ohlemiller, Kevin K; Chen, Chien-Chang; Campbell, Kevin P.; Hood, Aizhen Yang; Bao, Jianxin

2011-01-01

Loss of spiral ganglion neurons is a major cause of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis). Despite being the third most prevalent condition afflicting elderly persons, there are no known medications to prevent presbycusis. Because calcium signaling has long been implicated in age-related neuronal death, we investigated T-type calcium channels. This family is comprised of three members (Cav3.1, Cav3.2, and Cav3.3), based on their respective main pore-forming alpha subunits: α1G, α1H, and α1I. In the present study, we report a significant delay of age-related loss of cochlear function and preservation of spiral ganglion neurons in α1H null and heterozygous mice, clearly demonstrating an important role for Cav3.2 in age-related neuronal loss. Furthermore, we show that anticonvulsant drugs from a family of T-type calcium channel blockers can significantly preserve spiral ganglion neurons during aging. To our knowledge, this is the first report of drugs capable of diminishing age-related loss of spiral ganglion neurons. PMID:21640179

Age Differences in Attention Lapses Mask Age Differences in Memory Failures: A Methodological Note on Suppression

OpenAIRE

James Allan Cheyne; Jonathan S. A. Carriere; Dan eSmilek

2013-01-01

Although objective measures of memory performance typically indicate memory declines with age, self-reported memory failures often show no relation to age. In contrast, self-reported attention failures are reliably negatively correlated with age. This contrast suggests the possibility that age-related awareness and reporting of memory failures might be masked by a concurrent decrease in attention failures, which would reduce encoding failures with age and hence reduce perceived memory failure...

A comparison of three types of autobiographical memories in old-old age: first memories, pivotal memories and traumatic memories.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen-Mansfield, Jiska; Shmotkin, Dov; Eyal, Nitza; Reichental, Yael; Hazan, Haim

2010-01-01

Autobiographical memory enables us to construct a personal narrative through which we identify ourselves. Especially important are memories of formative events. This study describes autobiographical memories of people who have reached old-old age (85 years and above), studying 3 types of memories of particular impact on identity and adaptation: first memories, pivotal memories and traumatic memories. In this paper, we examine the content, characteristic themes and environments, and structural characteristics of each of the 3 types of memory. The participants were 26 persons from a larger longitudinal study with an average age of 91 years; half were men and the other half women. The study integrated qualitative and quantitative tools. An open-ended questionnaire included questions about the participants' life story as well as questions about the 3 types of memories. The responses were rated by 3 independent judges on dimensions of central themes and structural characteristics. First memories had a more positive emotional tone, more references to characters from the participant's social circle, a stronger sense of group belonging, and a more narrative style than the other types of memories. Pivotal and traumatic memories were described as more personal than first memories. The 3 types of memories reflect different stages in life development, which together form a sense of identity. They present experiences from the past on select themes, which may assist in the complex task of coping with the difficulties and limitations that advanced old age presents. Future research should examine the functional role of those memories and whether they enable the old-old to support selfhood in the challenging period of last changes and losses. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Adult age differences in memory in relation to availability and accessibility of knowledge-based schemas.

Science.gov (United States)

Arbuckle, T Y; Vanderleck, V F; Harsany, M; Lapidus, S

1990-03-01

Three experiments investigated whether, over adulthood, the use of schemas to process and remember new information increases (developmental shift hypothesis), decreases (production deficiency hypothesis) or remains constant (age-invariance hypothesis). Effects of schema access were studied by having young, middle-aged, and old music experts and nonexperts recall information that was relevant or irrelevant to music (Experiment 1) and by comparing young and old participants' memory for prose passages when they knew or did not know the subject of the passage (Experiments 2 and 3). In each case, schema access facilitated memory equally across age levels, supporting the age-invariance hypothesis and implying that the basic structures and operations of memory do not necessarily change with age. Possible limits on the independence of age and schema utilization were considered in relation to the conditions under which each of the two alternative hypotheses might hold.

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings.

Science.gov (United States)

Devitt, Aleea L; Schacter, Daniel L

2016-10-01

As we age we become increasingly susceptible to memory distortions and inaccuracies. Over the past decade numerous neuroimaging studies have attempted to illuminate the neural underpinnings of aging and false memory. Here we review these studies, and link their findings with those concerning the cognitive properties of age-related changes in memory accuracy. Collectively this evidence points towards a prominent role for age-related declines in medial temporal and prefrontal brain areas, and corresponding impairments in associative binding and strategic monitoring. A resulting cascade of cognitive changes contributes to the heightened vulnerability to false memories with age, including reduced recollective ability, a reliance on gist information and familiarity-based monitoring mechanisms, as well as a reduced ability to inhibit irrelevant information and erroneous binding of features between memory traces. We consider both theoretical and applied implications of research on aging and false memories, as well as questions remaining to be addressed in future research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

False memories with age: neural and cognitive underpinnings

Science.gov (United States)

Devitt, Aleea L.; Schacter, Daniel L.

2016-01-01

As we age we become increasingly susceptible to memory distortions and inaccuracies. Over the past decade numerous neuroimaging studies have attempted to illuminate the neural underpinnings of aging and false memory. Here we review these studies, and link their findings with those concerning the cognitive properties of age-related changes in memory accuracy. Collectively this evidence points towards a prominent role for age-related declines in medial temporal and prefrontal brain areas, and corresponding impairments in associative binding and strategic monitoring. A resulting cascade of cognitive changes contributes to the heightened vulnerability to false memories with age, including reduced recollective ability, a reliance on gist information and familiarity-based monitoring mechanisms, as well as a reduced ability to inhibit irrelevant information and erroneous binding of features between memory traces. We consider both theoretical and applied implications of research on aging and false memories, as well as questions remaining to be addressed in future research. PMID:27592332

The frequency of involuntary autobiographical memories and future thoughts in relation to daydreaming, emotional distress, and age.

Science.gov (United States)

Berntsen, Dorthe; Rubin, David C; Salgado, Sinue

2015-11-01

We introduce a new scale, the Involuntary Autobiographical Memory Inventory (IAMI), for measuring the frequency of involuntary autobiographical memories and involuntary future thoughts. Using the scale in relation to other psychometric and demographic measures provided three important, novel findings. First, the frequency of involuntary and voluntary memories and future thoughts are similarly related to general measures of emotional distress. This challenges the idea that the involuntary mode is uniquely associated with emotional distress. Second, the frequency of involuntary autobiographical remembering does not decline with age, whereas measures of daydreaming, suppression of unwanted thoughts and dissociative experiences all do. Thus, involuntary autobiographical remembering relates differently to aging than daydreaming and other forms of spontaneous and uncontrollable thoughts. Third, unlike involuntary autobiographical remembering, the frequency of future thoughts does decrease with age. This finding underscores the need for examining past and future mental time travel in relation to aging and life span development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Association of Aging and Aerobic Fitness With Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexis M. Bullock

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The present study examined the differential effects of aging and fitness on memory. Ninety-five young adults (YA and 81 older adults (OA performed the Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST to assess high-interference memory and general recognition memory. Age-related differences in high-interference memory were observed across the lifespan, with performance progressively worsening from young to old. In contrast, age-related differences in general recognition memory were not observed until after 60 years of age. Furthermore, OA with higher aerobic fitness had better high-interference memory, suggesting that exercise may be an important lifestyle factor influencing this aspect of memory. Overall, these findings suggest different trajectories of decline for high-interference and general recognition memory, with a selective role for physical activity in promoting high-interference memory.

Outsourcing Memory in Response to an Aging Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Michael; Schryer, Emily

2015-11-01

With baby boomers entering old age and longevity increasing, policymakers have focused on the physical, social, and health needs of older persons. We urge policymakers to consider cognitive aging as well, particularly normal, age-related memory decline. Psychological scientists attribute memory decline mainly to cognitive overload stemming from age-related reductions in sensory capacities, speed of cognitive processing, and the ability to filter out irrelevant information. Even in the absence of decline, however, memory is imperfect and forgetting can be especially consequential for older adults. For example, forgetting to take prescription medicines is an age-related problem largely because older adults tend to ingest many more prescription drugs. We propose that policymakers focus on increasing environmental support for memory that can reduce the burden on cognitive resources and thus improve recall. In providing environmental support, policymakers need to pay careful attention to potential age-related changes in physical and cognitive capacity, as well as behavior. © The Author(s) 2015.

Age-related differences in body weight loss in response to altered thyroidal status.

Science.gov (United States)

Mooradian, A D

1990-01-01

To determine whether age-related differences in body weight loss in hyperthyroidism could be related to caloric intake, the body weight and food consumption of Fischer 344 male rats were monitored every other day for four weeks. Six-month-old (young) rats were compared to 16-month-old rats (intermediate age) and 25-month-old (aged) rats. Hypothyroidism was induced with 0.025% methimazole in the drinking water for four weeks. Hyperthyroidism was induced with triiodothyronine (T3) injections (15 micrograms/100 g body weight i.p.) for the last 10 days of observation. A group of young rats pair fed with aged rats was included as a control group. The body weight changes of aged rats were similar to hypothyroid young rats. An index of T3 catabolic effect was calculated based on the net weight loss and food intake. This index was not different in aged rats compared to young rats. The apparent hypersensitivity of aged rats to T3 as evidenced by excessive weight loss could totally be attributed to decreased caloric intake. It is concluded that aged rats compared to the young are not more sensitive to the overall catabolic effects of thyroid hormones.

Susceptibility and resilience to memory aging stereotypes: education matters more than age.

Science.gov (United States)

Andreoletti, Carrie; Lachman, Margie E

2004-01-01

The authors examined whether the memory performance of young, middle-aged, and older adults would be influenced by stereotype versus counterstereotype information about age differences on a memory task. One hundred forty-nine adults from a probability sample were randomly assigned to a control group or to age-stereotype conditions. As predicted, counterstereotype information was related to higher recall compared to stereotype and control groups. This was true across all age groups, but only for those with more education. Both stereotype and counterstereotype information were related to lower recall compared to the control group across age groups for those with lower education. Results suggest those with more education are more resilient when faced with negative age stereotypes about memory and respond positively to counterstereotype information. In contrast, those with less education show greater susceptibility to the detrimental effects of age stereotypes and respond negatively to both stereotype and counterstereotype information about memory aging.

The impact of corporate memory loss: What happens when a senior executive leaves?

Science.gov (United States)

Lahaie, Denis

2005-01-01

The author is a nursing management practitioner, whose purpose in writing this paper is twofold: to examine the impact of corporate memory loss on a health care institution, caused by increasing retirement rates of senior executives; and to use this research as an opportunity for action learning where both the author and the institution can benefit from the learning outcomes. Using qualitative research methods based on ethnographic interviewing techniques and grounded theory, the author interviews 12 senior executives from four diverse health care facilities. The purpose is to determine the point at which corporate memory loss, in the form of tacit knowledge in the heads of departing executives, becomes a problem for the institution. The research determined that the requisite managerial competencies normally assumed for senior management positions are insufficient to minimize the negative impacts of corporate memory loss caused by departing senior executives. Effective knowledge management and knowledge transfer within the organization are fundamental for ongoing organizational effectiveness. The research is limited to 12 senior executives. The grounded theory nature of the research provides a framework for more research in other institutions to test and further explore some of the findings. One of the most significant threats facing the majority of health care organizations related to the aging workforce is the greater number of staff who are retiring from all levels within the organization. The development of techniques to reducing the impact of corporate memory loss on the culture of an organization will increase its effectiveness, help build continuity, and provide a more secure footing for the workforce of the future. The exit of knowledge workers is causing a major problem for Canada's health care organizations. This study throws more light on to this problem from the point of view of senior executives who have been specifically impacted by the problem of

Brain-behavior relationships in source memory: Effects of age and memory ability.

Science.gov (United States)

Meusel, Liesel-Ann; Grady, Cheryl L; Ebert, Patricia E; Anderson, Nicole D

2017-06-01

There is considerable evidence for age-related decrements in source memory retrieval, but the literature on the neural correlates of these impairments is mixed. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine source memory retrieval-related brain activity, and the monotonic relationship between retrieval-related brain activity and source memory accuracy, as a function of both healthy aging (younger vs older) and memory ability within the older adult group (Hi-Old vs Lo-Old). Participants studied lists of word pairs, half visually, half aurally; these were re-presented visually in a scanned test phase and participants indicated if the pair was 'seen' or 'heard' in the study phase. The Lo-Old, but not the Hi-Old, showed source memory performance decrements compared to the Young. During retrieval of source memories, younger and older adults engaged lateral and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and medial posterior parietal (and occipital) cortices. The groups differed in how brain activity related to source memory accuracy in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus/cuneus, and the inferior parietal cortex; in each of these areas, greater activity was associated with poorer accuracy in the Young, but with higher accuracy in the Hi-Old (anterior cingulate and precuneus/cuneus) and Lo-Old (inferior parietal lobe). Follow-up pairwise group interaction analyses revealed that greater activity in right parahippocampal gyrus was associated with better source memory in the Hi-Old, but not in the Lo-Old. We conclude that older adults recruit additional brain regions to compensate for age-related decline in source memory, but the specific regions involved differ depending on their episodic memory ability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alzheimer's disease and age-related memory decline (preclinical).

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, Alvin V; Callahan, Patrick M; Hall, Brandon; Webster, Scott J

2011-08-01

An unfortunate result of the rapid rise in geriatric populations worldwide is the increasing prevalence of age-related cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a devastating neurodegenerative illness that is characterized by a profound impairment of cognitive function, marked physical disability, and an enormous economic burden on the afflicted individual, caregivers, and society in general. The rise in elderly populations is also resulting in an increase in individuals with related (potentially treatable) conditions such as "Mild Cognitive Impairment" (MCI) which is characterized by a less severe (but abnormal) level of cognitive impairment and a high-risk for developing dementia. Even in the absence of a diagnosable disorder of cognition (e.g., AD and MCI), the perception of increased forgetfulness and declining mental function is a clear source of apprehension in the elderly. This is a valid concern given that even a modest impairment of cognitive function is likely to be associated with significant disability in a rapidly evolving, technology-based society. Unfortunately, the currently available therapies designed to improve cognition (i.e., for AD and other forms of dementia) are limited by modest efficacy and adverse side effects, and their effects on cognitive function are not sustained over time. Accordingly, it is incumbent on the scientific community to develop safer and more effective therapies that improve and/or sustain cognitive function in the elderly allowing them to remain mentally active and productive for as long as possible. As diagnostic criteria for memory disorders evolve, the demand for pro-cognitive therapeutic agents is likely to surpass AD and dementia to include MCI and potentially even less severe forms of memory decline. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the contemporary therapeutic targets and preclinical pharmacologic approaches (with representative drug examples) designed to enhance memory

The cost of misremembering: Inferring the loss function in visual working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Chris R

2015-03-04

Visual working memory (VWM) is a highly limited storage system. A basic consequence of this fact is that visual memories cannot perfectly encode or represent the veridical structure of the world. However, in natural tasks, some memory errors might be more costly than others. This raises the intriguing possibility that the nature of memory error reflects the costs of committing different kinds of errors. Many existing theories assume that visual memories are noise-corrupted versions of afferent perceptual signals. However, this additive noise assumption oversimplifies the problem. Implicit in the behavioral phenomena of visual working memory is the concept of a loss function: a mathematical entity that describes the relative cost to the organism of making different types of memory errors. An optimally efficient memory system is one that minimizes the expected loss according to a particular loss function, while subject to a constraint on memory capacity. This paper describes a novel theoretical framework for characterizing visual working memory in terms of its implicit loss function. Using inverse decision theory, the empirical loss function is estimated from the results of a standard delayed recall visual memory experiment. These results are compared to the predicted behavior of a visual working memory system that is optimally efficient for a previously identified natural task, gaze correction following saccadic error. Finally, the approach is compared to alternative models of visual working memory, and shown to offer a superior account of the empirical data across a range of experimental datasets. © 2015 ARVO.

Cognitive and neuropsychological underpinnings of relational and conjunctive working memory binding across age

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geldorp, B. van; Parra, M.A.; Kessels, R.P.C.

2015-01-01

The ability to form associations (i.e., binding) is critical for memory formation. Recent studies suggest that aging specifically affects relational binding (associating separate features) but not conjunctive binding (integrating features within an object). Possibly, this dissociation may be driven

An Event Related Potentials Study of the Effects of Age, Load and Maintenance Duration on Working Memory Recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinal, Diego; Zurrón, Montserrat; Díaz, Fernando

2015-01-01

Age-related decline in cognitive capacities has been attributed to a generalized slowing of processing speed and a reduction in working memory (WM) capacity. Nevertheless, it is unclear how age affects visuospatial WM recognition and its underlying brain electrical activity. Whether age modulates the effects of memory load or information maintenance duration, which determine the limits of WM, remains also elusive. In this exploratory study, performance in a delayed match to sample task declined with age, particularly in conditions with high memory load. Event related potentials analysis revealed longer N2 and P300 latencies in old than in young adults during WM recognition, which may reflect slowing of stimulus evaluation and classification processes, respectively. Although there were no differences between groups in N2 or P300 amplitudes, the latter was more homogeneously distributed in old than in young adults, which may indicate an age-related increased reliance in frontal vs parietal resources during WM recognition. This was further supported by an age-related reduced posterior cingulate activation and increased superior frontal gyrus activation revealed through standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography. Memory load and maintenance duration effects on brain activity were similar in both age groups. These behavioral and electrophysiological results add evidence in support of age-related decline in WM recognition theories, with a slowing of processing speed that may be limited to stimulus evaluation and categorization processes--with no effects on perceptual processes--and a posterior to anterior shift in the recruitment of neural resources.

An Event Related Potentials Study of the Effects of Age, Load and Maintenance Duration on Working Memory Recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diego Pinal

Full Text Available Age-related decline in cognitive capacities has been attributed to a generalized slowing of processing speed and a reduction in working memory (WM capacity. Nevertheless, it is unclear how age affects visuospatial WM recognition and its underlying brain electrical activity. Whether age modulates the effects of memory load or information maintenance duration, which determine the limits of WM, remains also elusive. In this exploratory study, performance in a delayed match to sample task declined with age, particularly in conditions with high memory load. Event related potentials analysis revealed longer N2 and P300 latencies in old than in young adults during WM recognition, which may reflect slowing of stimulus evaluation and classification processes, respectively. Although there were no differences between groups in N2 or P300 amplitudes, the latter was more homogeneously distributed in old than in young adults, which may indicate an age-related increased reliance in frontal vs parietal resources during WM recognition. This was further supported by an age-related reduced posterior cingulate activation and increased superior frontal gyrus activation revealed through standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography. Memory load and maintenance duration effects on brain activity were similar in both age groups. These behavioral and electrophysiological results add evidence in support of age-related decline in WM recognition theories, with a slowing of processing speed that may be limited to stimulus evaluation and categorization processes--with no effects on perceptual processes--and a posterior to anterior shift in the recruitment of neural resources.

An Event Related Potentials Study of the Effects of Age, Load and Maintenance Duration on Working Memory Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Pinal, Diego; Zurrón, Montserrat; Díaz, Fernando

2015-01-01

Age-related decline in cognitive capacities has been attributed to a generalized slowing of processing speed and a reduction in working memory (WM) capacity. Nevertheless, it is unclear how age affects visuospatial WM recognition and its underlying brain electrical activity. Whether age modulates the effects of memory load or information maintenance duration, which determine the limits of WM, remains also elusive. In this exploratory study, performance in a delayed match to sample task declined with age, particularly in conditions with high memory load. Event related potentials analysis revealed longer N2 and P300 latencies in old than in young adults during WM recognition, which may reflect slowing of stimulus evaluation and classification processes, respectively. Although there were no differences between groups in N2 or P300 amplitudes, the latter was more homogeneously distributed in old than in young adults, which may indicate an age-related increased reliance in frontal vs parietal resources during WM recognition. This was further supported by an age-related reduced posterior cingulate activation and increased superior frontal gyrus activation revealed through standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography. Memory load and maintenance duration effects on brain activity were similar in both age groups. These behavioral and electrophysiological results add evidence in support of age-related decline in WM recognition theories, with a slowing of processing speed that may be limited to stimulus evaluation and categorization processes -with no effects on perceptual processes- and a posterior to anterior shift in the recruitment of neural resources. PMID:26569113

Are Early Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviors Related to Working Memory at 7 and 14 Years of Age?

Science.gov (United States)

López-Vicente, Mónica; Garcia-Aymerich, Judith; Torrent-Pallicer, Jaume; Forns, Joan; Ibarluzea, Jesús; Lertxundi, Nerea; González, Llúcia; Valera-Gran, Desirée; Torrent, Maties; Dadvand, Payam; Vrijheid, Martine; Sunyer, Jordi

2017-09-01

To evaluate the role of extracurricular physical activity and sedentary behavior at preschool and primary school age on working memory at primary school age and adolescence, respectively. This prospective study was based on a birth cohort across 4 Spanish regions. In the 3 younger subcohorts (n = 1093), parents reported lifestyle habits of child at age 4 years of age on a questionnaire, and children performed a computerized working memory task at 7 years of age. In the older subcohort (n = 307), the questionnaire was completed at 6 years of age and working memory was tested at 14 years of age. Adjusted regression models were developed to investigate the associations between lifestyle habits and working memory. Low extracurricular physical activity levels at 4 years of age were associated with a nonsignificant 0.95% (95% CI -2.81 to 0.92) reduction of correct responses in the working memory task at age 7 years of age. Low extracurricular physical activity levels at 6 years of age were associated with a 4.22% (95% CI -8.05 to -0.39) reduction of correct responses at age 14 years. Television watching was not associated with working memory. Other sedentary behaviors at 6 year of age were associated with a 5.07% (95% CI -9.68 to -0.46) reduction of correct responses in boys at 14 years of age. Low extracurricular physical activity levels at preschool and primary school ages were associated with poorer working memory performance at primary school age and adolescence, respectively. High sedentary behavior levels at primary school age were related negatively to working memory in adolescent boys. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early selection versus late correction: Age-related differences in controlling working memory contents.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarzkopp, Tina; Mayr, Ulrich; Jost, Kerstin

2016-08-01

We examined whether a reduced ability to ignore irrelevant information is responsible for the age-related decline of working memory (WM) functions. By means of event-related brain potentials, we will show that filtering is not out of service in older adults but shifted to a later processing stage. Participants performed a visual short-term memory task (change-detection task) in which targets were presented along with distractors. To allow early selection, a cue was presented in advance of each display, indicating where the targets were to appear. Despite this relatively easy selection criterion, older adults' filtering was delayed as indicated by the amplitude pattern of the contralateral delay activity. Importantly, WM-equated younger adults did not show a delay indicating that the delay is specific to older adults and not a general phenomenon that comes with low WM capacity. Moreover, the analysis of early visual potentials revealed qualitatively different perceptual/attentional processing between the age groups. Young adults exhibited stronger distractor sensitivity that in turn facilitated filtering. Older adults, in contrast, seemed to initially store distractors and to suppress them after the fact. These early selection versus late-correction modes suggest an age-related shift in the strategy to control the contents of WM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Age effects on explicit and implicit memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emma eWard

2013-09-01

Full Text Available It is well documented that explicit memory (e.g., recognition declines with age. In contrast, many argue that implicit memory (e.g., priming is preserved in healthy aging. For example, priming on tasks such as perceptual identification is often not statistically different in groups of young and older adults. Such observations are commonly taken as evidence for distinct explicit and implicit learning/memory systems. In this article we discuss several lines of evidence that challenge this view. We describe how patterns of differential age-related decline may arise from differences in the ways in which the two forms of memory are commonly measured, and review recent research suggesting that under improved measurement methods, implicit memory is not age-invariant. Formal computational models are of considerable utility in revealing the nature of underlying systems. We report the results of applying single and multiple-systems models to data on age effects in implicit and explicit memory. Model comparison clearly favours the single-system view. Implications for the memory systems debate are discussed.

Age effects on explicit and implicit memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Emma V; Berry, Christopher J; Shanks, David R

2013-01-01

It is well-documented that explicit memory (e.g., recognition) declines with age. In contrast, many argue that implicit memory (e.g., priming) is preserved in healthy aging. For example, priming on tasks such as perceptual identification is often not statistically different in groups of young and older adults. Such observations are commonly taken as evidence for distinct explicit and implicit learning/memory systems. In this article we discuss several lines of evidence that challenge this view. We describe how patterns of differential age-related decline may arise from differences in the ways in which the two forms of memory are commonly measured, and review recent research suggesting that under improved measurement methods, implicit memory is not age-invariant. Formal computational models are of considerable utility in revealing the nature of underlying systems. We report the results of applying single and multiple-systems models to data on age effects in implicit and explicit memory. Model comparison clearly favors the single-system view. Implications for the memory systems debate are discussed.

Sleep spindles: a physiological marker of age-related changes in gray matter in brain regions supporting motor skill memory consolidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogel, Stuart; Vien, Catherine; Karni, Avi; Benali, Habib; Carrier, Julie; Doyon, Julien

2017-01-01

Sleep is necessary for the optimal consolidation of procedural learning, and in particular, for motor sequential skills. Motor sequence learning remains intact with age, but sleep-dependent consolidation is impaired, suggesting that memory deficits for procedural skills are specifically impacted by age-related changes in sleep. Age-related changes in spindles may be responsible for impaired motor sequence learning consolidation, but the morphological basis for this deficit is unknown. Here, we found that gray matter in the hippocampus and cerebellum was positively correlated with both sleep spindles and offline improvements in performance in young participants but not in older participants. These results suggest that age-related changes in gray matter in the hippocampus relate to spindles and may underlie age-related deficits in sleep-related motor sequence memory consolidation. In this way, spindles can serve as a biological marker for structural brain changes and the related memory deficits in older adults. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chronic caffeine prevents changes in inhibitory avoidance memory and hippocampal BDNF immunocontent in middle-aged rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Sallaberry, Cássia; Nunes, Fernanda; Costa, Marcelo S; Fioreze, Gabriela T; Ardais, Ana Paula; Botton, Paulo Henrique S; Klaudat, Bruno; Forte, Thomás; Souza, Diogo O; Elisabetsky, Elaine; Porciúncula, Lisiane O

2013-01-01

Beneficial effects of caffeine on memory processes have been observed in animal models relevant to neurodegenerative diseases and aging, although the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Because brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is associated with memory formation and BDNF's actions are modulated by adenosine receptors, the molecular targets for the psychostimulant actions of caffeine, we here compare the effects of chronic caffeine (1 mg/mL drinking solution for 30 days) on short- and long term memory and on levels of hippocampal proBDNF, mature BDNF, TrkB and CREB in young (3 month old) and middle-aged (12 month old) rats. Caffeine treatment substantially reduced i) age-related impairments in the two types of memory in an inhibitory avoidance paradigm, and ii) parallel increases in hippocampal BDNF levels. In addition, chronic caffeine increased proBDNF and CREB concentrations, and decreased TrkB levels, in hippocampus regardless of age. These data provide new evidence in favor of the hypothesis that modifications in BDNF and related proteins in the hippocampus contribute to the pro-cognitive effects of caffeine on age-associated losses in memory encoding. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electroconvulsive therapy and memory loss: a personal journey.

Science.gov (United States)

Donahue, A B

2000-06-01

The cause for the significant gap between research and anecdotal evidence regarding the extent of some memory loss after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has never been adequately explained. A patient's development of awareness and self-education about her severe side effects from ECT raises questions regarding many current assumptions about memory loss. ECT-specific studies, which conclude that side effects are short term and narrow in scope, have serious limitations, including the fact that they do not take into account broader scientific knowledge about memory function. Because of the potential for devastating and permanent memory loss with ECT, informed consent needs significant enhancement until advancing research on both improved techniques and on better predictive knowledge regarding memory loss progresses to making a greater impact on clinical applications. Follow-up care and education in coping skills need to be a regular part of ECT practice when patients do experience severe effects.

Medial prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity during emotional memory encoding predicts individual differences in the loss of associative memory specificity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkers, R.M.W.J.; Klumpers, F.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

2016-01-01

Emotionally charged items are often remembered better, whereas a paradoxical loss of specificity is found for associative emotional information (specific memory). The balance between specific and generalized emotional memories appears to show large individual differences, potentially related to

Medial prefrontal–hippocampal connectivity during emotional memory encoding predicts individual differences in the loss of associative memory specificity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkers, R.M.W.J.; Klumpers, F.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

2016-01-01

Emotionally charged items are often remembered better, whereas a paradoxical loss of specificity is found for associative emotional information (specific memory). The balance between specific and generalized emotional memories appears to show large individual differences, potentially related to

[Examination of the optimal midazolam dose required for loss of puncture memory at the time of spinal anesthesia].

Science.gov (United States)

Boku, Aiji; Koyama, Shinichi; Kishimoto, Naotaka; Nakatani, Keiji; Kurita, Satoshi; Nagata, Noboru; Niwa, Hitoshi

2011-08-01

We examined midazolam ED50 according to age that was necessary for loss of puncture memory at the time of spinal anesthesia and determined whether we could estimate the presence of puncture memory from the degree of sedation after midazolam administration. We enrolled patients with ASA PS 1 or 2 and patients from 50 to 80 years of age who had been planned for surgery with spinal anesthesia. We divided the patients into groups according to their age--50s, 60s, and 70s as L, M, and H groups, respectively. We evaluated the degree of sedation with six phases of scores after intravenous administration of midazolam and spinal anesthesia was performed. The midazolam dose was based on the ups and downs method. The midazolam ED50s required for the loss of puncture memory in groups L, M, and H were 0.043, 0.035, and 0.026 mg x kg(-1), respectively. We estimated the association between the sedation degree score after midazolam administration and the puncture memory from ROC curve, but AUC was 0.56 for all cases. The midazolam ED50 required for the loss of puncture memory decreased with age but it was difficult to estimate puncture memory from the degree of sedation.

Memory and Aging

Science.gov (United States)

Memory and Aging Losing keys, misplacing a wallet, or forgetting someone’s name are common experiences. But for people nearing or over age 65, such memory lapses can be frightening. They wonder if they ...

Chronic treatment with ginsenoside Rg1 promotes memory and hippocampal long-term potentiation in middle-aged mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, G; Wang, Y; Li, J; Wang, J

2015-04-30

Ginseng serves as a potential candidate for the treatment of aging-related memory decline or memory loss. However, the related mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, we applied an intraperitoneal injection of ginsenoside Rg1, an active compound from ginseng in middle-aged mice and detected memory improvement and the underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that a period of 30-day administration of ginsenoside Rg1 enhanced long-term memory in the middle-aged animals. Consistent with the memory improvement, ginsenoside Rg1 administration facilitated weak theta-burst stimulation (TBS)-induced long-term potentiation (LTP) in acute hippocampal slices from middle-aged animals. Ginsenoside Rg1 administration increased the dendritic apical spine numbers and area in the CA1 region. In addition, ginsenoside Rg1 administration up-regulated the expression of hippocampal p-AKT, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), proBDNF and glutamate receptor 1 (GluR1), but not p-ERK. Interestingly, the phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) inhibitor (bpV) mimicked the ginsenoside Rg1 effects, including increasing p-AKT expression, promoting hippocampal basal synaptic transmission, LTP and memory. Taken together, our data suggest that ginsenoside Rg1 treatment improves memory in middle-aged mice possibly through regulating the PI3K/AKT pathway, altering apical spines and facilitating hippocampal LTP. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vitamin K’s role in age-related bone loss: A critical review

Science.gov (United States)

The protective role of vitamin K in age-related bone loss continues to be controversial. The results of observational analyses are inconsistent with respect to associations between vitamin K status and bone, which arguably may be related to the limitations of observational study designs and analyt...

Intake of Wild Blueberry Powder Improves Episodic-Like and Working Memory during Normal Aging in Mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Beracochea, Daniel; Krazem, Ali; Henkouss, Nadia; Haccard, Guillaume; Roller, Marc; Fromentin, Emilie

2016-08-01

The number of Americans older than 65 years old is projected to more than double in the next 40 years. Cognitive changes associated to aging can affect an adult's day-to-day functioning. Among these cognitive changes, reasoning, episodic memory, working memory, and processing speed decline gradually over time. Early memory changes include a decline in both working and episodic memory. The aim of the present study was to determine whether chronic (up to 75 days) daily administration of wild blueberry extract or a wild blueberry full spectrum powder would help prevent memory failure associated with aging in tasks involving various forms of memory. Both blueberry ingredients were used in a study comparing young mice (6 months old) to aged mice (18 months old). At this age, mice exhibit memory decline due to aging, which is exacerbated first by a loss in working and contextual (episodic-like) memory. Contextual memory (episodic-like memory) was evaluated using the contextual serial discrimination test. Working and spatial memory were evaluated using the Morris-Water maze test and the sequential alternation test. Statistical analysis was performed using an ANOVA with the Bonferroni post-hoc test. Supplementation with wild blueberry full spectrum powder and wild blueberry extract resulted in significant improvement of contextual memory, while untreated aged mice experienced a decline in such memory. Only the wild blueberry full spectrum powder significantly contributed to an improvement of spatial and working memory versus untreated aged mice. These improvements of cognitive performance may be related to brain oxidative status, acetylcholinesterase activity, neuroprotection, or attenuation of immunoreactivity. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Cultural differences in categorical memory errors persist with age.

Science.gov (United States)

Gutchess, Angela; Boduroglu, Aysecan

2018-01-02

This cross-sectional experiment examined the influence of aging on cross-cultural differences in memory errors. Previous research revealed that Americans committed more categorical memory errors than Turks; we tested whether the cognitive constraints associated with aging impacted the pattern of memory errors across cultures. Furthermore, older adults are vulnerable to memory errors for semantically-related information, and we assessed whether this tendency occurs across cultures. Younger and older adults from the US and Turkey studied word pairs, with some pairs sharing a categorical relationship and some unrelated. Participants then completed a cued recall test, generating the word that was paired with the first. These responses were scored for correct responses or different types of errors, including categorical and semantic. The tendency for Americans to commit more categorical memory errors emerged for both younger and older adults. In addition, older adults across cultures committed more memory errors, and these were for semantically-related information (including both categorical and other types of semantic errors). Heightened vulnerability to memory errors with age extends across cultural groups, and Americans' proneness to commit categorical memory errors occurs across ages. The findings indicate some robustness in the ways that age and culture influence memory errors.

Aging of marrow stromal (skeletal) stem cells and their contribution to age-related bone loss

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bellantuono, Ilaria; Aldahmash, Abdullah; Kassem, Moustapha

2009-01-01

Marrow stromal cells (MSC) are thought to be stem cells with osteogenic potential and therefore responsible for the repair and maintenance of the skeleton. Age related bone loss is one of the most prevalent diseases in the elder population. It is controversial whether MSC undergo a process of agi...

Running throughout middle-age improves memory function, hippocampal neurogenesis and BDNF levels in female C57Bl/6J mice.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marlatt, M.W.; Potter, M.C.; Lucassen, P.J.; van Praag, H.

2012-01-01

Age-related memory loss is considered to commence at middle-age and coincides with reduced adult hippocampal neurogenesis and neurotrophin levels. Consistent physical activity at midlife may preserve brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, new cell genesis and learning. In the present

8 Areas of Age-Related Change

Science.gov (United States)

... please turn Javascript on. Photo: PhotoDisc 1. Brain: Memory and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) As adults age, many ... optic nerve. This leads to vision loss and blindness. Most people with glaucoma have no early symptoms ...

Emotion effects on implicit and explicit musical memory in normal aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Narme, Pauline; Peretz, Isabelle; Strub, Marie-Laure; Ergis, Anne-Marie

2016-12-01

Normal aging affects explicit memory while leaving implicit memory relatively spared. Normal aging also modifies how emotions are processed and experienced, with increasing evidence that older adults (OAs) focus more on positive information than younger adults (YAs). The aim of the present study was to investigate how age-related changes in emotion processing influence explicit and implicit memory. We used emotional melodies that differed in terms of valence (positive or negative) and arousal (high or low). Implicit memory was assessed with a preference task exploiting exposure effects, and explicit memory with a recognition task. Results indicated that effects of valence and arousal interacted to modulate both implicit and explicit memory in YAs. In OAs, recognition was poorer than in YAs; however, recognition of positive and high-arousal (happy) studied melodies was comparable. Insofar as socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) predicts a preservation of the recognition of positive information, our findings are not fully consistent with the extension of this theory to positive melodies since recognition of low-arousal (peaceful) studied melodies was poorer in OAs. In the preference task, YAs showed stronger exposure effects than OAs, suggesting an age-related decline of implicit memory. This impairment is smaller than the one observed for explicit memory (recognition), extending to the musical domain the dissociation between explicit memory decline and implicit memory relative preservation in aging. Finally, the disproportionate preference for positive material seen in OAs did not translate into stronger exposure effects for positive material suggesting no age-related emotional bias in implicit memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-related effects on perceptual and semantic encoding in memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, M C C; Liu, K P Y; Ting, K H; Chan, C C H

2014-03-07

This study examined the age-related subsequent memory effect (SME) in perceptual and semantic encoding using event-related potentials (ERPs). Seventeen younger adults and 17 older adults studied a series of Chinese characters either perceptually (by inspecting orthographic components) or semantically (by determining whether the depicted object makes sounds). The two tasks had similar levels of difficulty. The participants made studied or unstudied judgments during the recognition phase. Younger adults performed better in both conditions, with significant SMEs detected in the time windows of P2, N3, P550, and late positive component (LPC). In the older group, SMEs were observed in the P2 and N3 latencies in both conditions but were only detected in the P550 in the semantic condition. Between-group analyses showed larger frontal and central SMEs in the younger sample in the LPC latency regardless of encoding type. Aging effect appears to be stronger on influencing perceptual than semantic encoding processes. The effects seem to be associated with a decline in updating and maintaining representations during perceptual encoding. The age-related decline in the encoding function may be due in part to changes in frontal lobe function. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Age and Age-Related Hearing Loss on the Brain

Science.gov (United States)

Tremblay, Kelly; Ross, Bernhard

2007-01-01

It is well documented that aging adversely affects the ability to perceive time-varying acoustic cues. Here we review how physiological measures are being used to explore the effects of aging (and concomitant hearing loss) on the neural representation of temporal cues. Also addressed are the implications of current research findings on the…

Physical Activity Is Positively Associated with Episodic Memory in Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, Scott M; Alosco, Michael L; Hayes, Jasmeet P; Cadden, Margaret; Peterson, Kristina M; Allsup, Kelly; Forman, Daniel E; Sperling, Reisa A; Verfaellie, Mieke

2015-11-01

Aging is associated with performance reductions in executive function and episodic memory, although there is substantial individual variability in cognition among older adults. One factor that may be positively associated with cognition in aging is physical activity. To date, few studies have objectively assessed physical activity in young and older adults, and examined whether physical activity is differentially associated with cognition in aging. Young (n=29, age 18-31 years) and older adults (n=31, ages 55-82 years) completed standardized neuropsychological testing to assess executive function and episodic memory capacities. An experimental face-name relational memory task was administered to augment assessment of episodic memory. Physical activity (total step count and step rate) was objectively assessed using an accelerometer, and hierarchical regressions were used to evaluate relationships between cognition and physical activity. Older adults performed more poorly on tasks of executive function and episodic memory. Physical activity was positively associated with a composite measure of visual episodic memory and face-name memory accuracy in older adults. Physical activity associations with cognition were independent of sedentary behavior, which was negatively correlated with memory performance. Physical activity was not associated with cognitive performance in younger adults. Physical activity is positively associated with episodic memory performance in aging. The relationship appears to be strongest for face-name relational memory and visual episodic memory, likely attributable to the fact that these tasks make strong demands on the hippocampus. The results suggest that physical activity relates to cognition in older, but not younger adults.

Effects of Aging and Education on False Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yuh-Shiow; Lee, Chia-Lin; Yang, Hua-Te

2012-01-01

This study examined the effects of aging and education on participants' false memory for words that were not presented. Three age groups of participants with either a high or low education level were asked to study lists of semantically related words. Both age and education were found to affect veridical and false memory, as indicated in the…

Understanding age-related reductions in visual working memory capacity: examining the stages of change detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Philip C; Duda, Bryant; Hussey, Erin; Mason, Emily; Molitor, Robert J; Woodman, Geoffrey F; Ally, Brandon A

2014-10-01

Visual working memory (VWM) capacity is reduced in older adults. Research has shown age-related impairments to VWM encoding, but aging is likely to affect multiple stages of VWM. In the present study, we recorded the event-related potentials (ERPs) of younger and older adults during VWM maintenance and retrieval. We measured encoding-stage processing with the P1 component, maintenance-stage processing with the contralateral delay activity (CDA), and retrieval-stage processing by comparing the activity for old and new items (old-new effect). Older adults showed lower behavioral capacity estimates (K) than did younger adults, but surprisingly, their P1 components and CDAs were comparable to those of younger adults. This remarkable dissociation between neural activity and behavior in the older adults indicated that the P1 and CDA did not accurately assess their VWM capacity. However, the neural activity evoked during VWM retrieval yielded results that helped clarify the age-related differences. During retrieval, younger adults showed early old-new effects in frontal and occipital areas and a late central-parietal old-new effect, whereas older adults showed a late right-lateralized parietal old-new effect. The younger adults' early old-new effects strongly resembled an index of perceptual fluency, suggesting that perceptual implicit memory was activated. The activation of implicit memory could have facilitated the younger adults' behavior, and the lack of these early effects in older adults may suggest that they have much lower-resolution memory than do younger adults. From these data, we speculated that younger and older adults store the same number of items in VWM, but that younger adults store a higher-resolution representation than do older adults.

No dramatic age-related loss of hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons in Bcl-2 over-expression mice or Bax null mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ohlemiller Kevin K

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Age-related decline of neuronal function is associated with age-related structural changes. In the central nervous system, age-related decline of cognitive performance is thought to be caused by synaptic loss instead of neuronal loss. However, in the cochlea, age-related loss of hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs is consistently observed in a variety of species, including humans. Since age-related loss of these cells is a major contributing factor to presbycusis, it is important to study possible molecular mechanisms underlying this age-related cell death. Previous studies suggested that apoptotic pathways were involved in age-related loss of hair cells and SGNs. In the present study, we examined the role of Bcl-2 gene in age-related hearing loss. In one transgenic mouse line over-expressing human Bcl-2, there were no significant differences between transgenic mice and wild type littermate controls in their hearing thresholds during aging. Histological analysis of the hair cells and SGNs showed no significant conservation of these cells in transgenic animals compared to the wild type controls during aging. These data suggest that Bcl-2 overexpression has no significant effect on age-related loss of hair cells and SGNs. We also found no delay of age-related hearing loss in mice lacking Bax gene. These findings suggest that age-related hearing loss is not through an apoptotic pathway involving key members of Bcl-2 family.

Patterns of brain atrophy associated with episodic memory and semantic fluency decline in aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelletier, Amandine; Bernard, Charlotte; Dilharreguy, Bixente; Helmer, Catherine; Le Goff, Melanie; Chanraud, Sandra; Dartigues, Jean-François; Allard, Michèle; Amieva, Hélène; Catheline, Gwénaëlle

2017-03-09

The cerebral substratum of age-related cognitive decline was evaluated in an elderly-cohort followed for 12 years (n=306). Participants, free of dementia, received neuropsychological assessments every two years and an MRI exam at baseline and four years later. Cognitive decline was evaluated on two broadly used tests to detect dementia: the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT), a verbal episodic memory task, and the Isaacs Set Test (IST), a semantic fluency task. Using voxel-based approach, the relationship between cognitive decline with 1/ baseline grey matter volumes and 2/ grey matter volume loss between the two scans was explored. Baseline volumes analysis revealed that FCSRT and IST declines were both associated with lower volumes of the medial temporal region. Volumes loss analysis confirmed that both declines are related to medial temporal lobe atrophy and revealed that FCSRT decline was specifically associated with atrophy of the posterior cingulate cortex whereas IST decline was specifically related to temporal pole atrophy. These results suggest that cognitive decline across aging is firstly related to structural modifications of the medial temporal lobe, followed by an atrophy in the posterior midline structures for episodic memory and an atrophy of the temporal pole for semantic fluency.

Motivation for weight loss affects recall from autobiographical memory in dieters.

Science.gov (United States)

Johannessen, Kim Berg; Berntsen, Dorthe

2009-01-01

Two studies examined the connection between motivation for weight loss and autobiographical memory by comparing characteristics of autobiographical memories between dieters and non-dieters. Study 1 involved 29 normal/overweight dieters and 48 non-dieters, and Study 2 involved 18 obese dieters and 18 normal weight non-dieters. Memories recalled in response to dieting-related cue words were rated as more central to the person's identity and life story and contained more body- or weight-related elements for the dieters than the non-dieters. No differences between dieters and non-dieters were found on memories recalled in response to neutral cue words. The findings are discussed in relation to the notions of the working self (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000) and current concerns (Klinger, 1978).

Motivation for weight loss affects recall from autobiographical memory in dieters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johannessen, Kim Berg; Berntsen, Dorthe

2009-01-01

Two studies examined the connection between motivation for weight loss and autobiographical memory by comparing characteristics of autobiographical memories between dieters and non-dieters. Study 1 involved 29 normal/overweight dieters and 48 non-dieters, and Study 2 involved 18 obese dieters...... and 18 normal weight non-dieters. Memories recalled in response to dieting-related cue words were rated as more central to the person's identity and life story and contained more body- or weight-related elements for the dieters than the non-dieters. No differences between dieters and non-dieters were...... found on memories recalled in response to neutral cue words. The findings are discussed in relation to the notions of the working self (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000) and current concerns (Klinger, 1978)....

Relating working memory to compression parameters in clinically fit hearing AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, Pamela E; Sirow, Lynn

2014-12-01

Several laboratory studies have demonstrated that working memory may influence response to compression speed in controlled (i.e., laboratory) comparisons of compression. In this study, the authors explored whether the same relationship would occur under less controlled conditions, as might occur in a typical audiology clinic. Participants included 27 older adults who sought hearing care in a private practice audiology clinic. Working memory was measured for each participant using a reading span test. The authors examined the relationship between working memory and aided speech recognition in noise, using clinically fit hearing aids with a range of compression speeds. Working memory, amount of hearing loss, and age each contributed to speech recognition, but the contribution depended on the speed of the compression processor. For fast-acting compression, the best performance was obtained by patients with high working memory. For slow-acting compression, speech recognition was affected by age and amount of hearing loss but was not affected by working memory. Despite the expectation of greater variability from differences in compression implementation, number of compression channels, or attendant signal processing, the relationship between working memory and compression speed showed a similar pattern as results from more controlled, laboratory-based studies.

Age-related alterations of brain network underlying the retrieval of emotional autobiographical memories: an fMRI study using independent component analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Ruiyang; Fu, Yan; Wang, Dahua; Yao, Li; Long, Zhiying

2014-01-01

Normal aging has been shown to modulate the neural underpinnings of autobiographical memory and emotion processing. Moreover, previous researches have suggested that aging produces a "positivity effect" in autobiographical memory. Although a few imaging studies have investigated the neural mechanism of the positivity effect, the neural substrates underlying the positivity effect in emotional autobiographical memory is unclear. To understand the age-related neural changes in emotional autobiographical memory that underlie the positivity effect, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study used the independent component analysis (ICA) method to compare brain networks in younger and older adults as they retrieved positive and negative autobiographical events. Compared to their younger counterparts, older adults reported relatively higher positive feelings when retrieving emotional autobiographical events. Imaging data indicated an age-related reversal within the ventromedial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex (VMPFC/ACC) and the left amygdala of the brain networks that were engaged in the retrieval of autobiographical events with different valence. The retrieval of negative events compared to positive events induced stronger activity in the VMPFC/ACC and weaker activity in the amygdala for the older adults, whereas the younger adults showed a reversed pattern. Moreover, activity in the VMPFC/ACC within the task-related networks showed a negative correlation with the emotional valence intensity. These results may suggest that the positivity effect in older adults' autobiographical memories is potentially due to age-related changes in controlled emotional processing implemented by the VMPFC/ACC-amygdala circuit.

Age-related alterations of brain network underlying the retrieval of emotional autobiographical memories: An fMRI study using independent component analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruiyang eGe

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Normal aging has been shown to modulate the neural underpinnings of autobiographical memory and emotion processing. Moreover, previous researches have suggested that aging produces a positivity effect in autobiographical memory. Although a few imaging studies have investigated the neural mechanism of the positivity effect, the neural substrates underlying the positivity effect in emotional autobiographical memory is unclear. To understand the age-related neural changes in emotional autobiographical memory that underlie the positivity effect, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study used the independent component analysis (ICA method to compare brain networks in younger and older adults as they retrieved positive and negative autobiographical events. Compared to their younger counterparts, older adults reported relatively higher positive feelings when retrieving emotional autobiographical events. Imaging data indicated an age-related reversal within the ventromedial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex (VMPFC/ACC and the left amygdala of the brain networks that were engaged in the retrieval of autobiographical events with different valence. The retrieval of negative events compared to positive events induced stronger activity in the VMPFC/ACC and weaker activity in the amygdala for the older adults, whereas the younger adults showed a reversed pattern. Moreover, activity in the VMPFC/ACC within the task-related networks showed a negative correlation with the emotional valence intensity. These results may suggest that the positivity effect in older adults’ autobiographical memories is potentially due to age-related changes in controlled emotional processing implemented by the VMPFC/ACC-amygdala circuit.

Audiovisual Temporal Perception in Aging: The Role of Multisensory Integration and Age-Related Sensory Loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Cassandra J; Chan, Yu Man; Anderson, Andrew J; McKendrick, Allison M

2018-01-01

Within each sensory modality, age-related deficits in temporal perception contribute to the difficulties older adults experience when performing everyday tasks. Since perceptual experience is inherently multisensory, older adults also face the added challenge of appropriately integrating or segregating the auditory and visual cues present in our dynamic environment into coherent representations of distinct objects. As such, many studies have investigated how older adults perform when integrating temporal information across audition and vision. This review covers both direct judgments about temporal information (the sound-induced flash illusion, temporal order, perceived synchrony, and temporal rate discrimination) and judgments regarding stimuli containing temporal information (the audiovisual bounce effect and speech perception). Although an age-related increase in integration has been demonstrated on a variety of tasks, research specifically investigating the ability of older adults to integrate temporal auditory and visual cues has produced disparate results. In this short review, we explore what factors could underlie these divergent findings. We conclude that both task-specific differences and age-related sensory loss play a role in the reported disparity in age-related effects on the integration of auditory and visual temporal information.

Audiovisual Temporal Perception in Aging: The Role of Multisensory Integration and Age-Related Sensory Loss

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Cassandra J.; Chan, Yu Man; Anderson, Andrew J.; McKendrick, Allison M.

2018-01-01

Within each sensory modality, age-related deficits in temporal perception contribute to the difficulties older adults experience when performing everyday tasks. Since perceptual experience is inherently multisensory, older adults also face the added challenge of appropriately integrating or segregating the auditory and visual cues present in our dynamic environment into coherent representations of distinct objects. As such, many studies have investigated how older adults perform when integrating temporal information across audition and vision. This review covers both direct judgments about temporal information (the sound-induced flash illusion, temporal order, perceived synchrony, and temporal rate discrimination) and judgments regarding stimuli containing temporal information (the audiovisual bounce effect and speech perception). Although an age-related increase in integration has been demonstrated on a variety of tasks, research specifically investigating the ability of older adults to integrate temporal auditory and visual cues has produced disparate results. In this short review, we explore what factors could underlie these divergent findings. We conclude that both task-specific differences and age-related sensory loss play a role in the reported disparity in age-related effects on the integration of auditory and visual temporal information. PMID:29867415

Improved Adherence to Vision Self-monitoring with the Vision and Memory Stimulating (VMS) Journal for Non-neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration during a Randomized Controlled Trial

OpenAIRE

Bittner, Ava K; Torr-Brown, Sheryl; Arnold, Ellen; Nwankwo, Antonia; Beaton, Patricia; Rampat, Radhika; Dagnelie, Gislin; Roser, Mark

2014-01-01

Objective An educational, interactive journal [Vision and Memory Stimulating (VMS) journal] was developed to boost patient confidence and promote long-term adherence with weekly vision self-monitoring in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients at risk for vision loss from new-onset neovascularization. Methods In a multicenter randomized controlled trial, 198 subjects with intermediate stage, non-neovascular AMD received the VMS journal or followed usual care (e.g. their doctor’s instr...

Familial Aggregation of Age-Related Hearing Loss in an Epidemiological Study of Older Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Raynor, Laura A.; Pankow, James S.; Miller, Michael B.; Huang, Guan-Hua; Dalton, Dayna; Klein, Ronald; Klein, Barbara E. K.; Cruickshanks, Karen J.

2010-01-01

Purpose To estimate the genetic contributions to presbycusis Method Presbycusis was assessed by audiometric measurements at three waves of the population-based Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study (EHLS). Measurements from the most recent hearing examination were used, at which time subjects were between 48 and 100 years of age. Heritability of presbycusis was estimated using maximum likelihood methods in 973 biological relative pairs from 376 families. Familial aggregation was also evaluated by tetrachoric correlations, odds ratios, and lambda statistics in 594 sibling pairs from 373 sibships. Subjects 3,510 participants from the EHLS study Results The prevalence of presbycusis conformed to previous research, increasing with age and male sex. Heritability estimates for presbycusis adjusted for age, sex, education level, and exposure to work noise exceeded 50%, and siblings of an affected relative were at 30% higher risk. When stratified by sex, estimates of familial aggregation were higher in women than men. Conclusions There is evidence that genetic factors contribute to age-related hearing loss in this population-based sample. The familial aggregation is stronger in women than in men. PMID:19474454

Age-related loss of EGF-receptor related protein (ERRP) in the aging colon is a potential risk factor for colon cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmelz, Eva M; Levi, Edi; Du, Jianhua; Xu, Hu; Majumdar, Adhip P N

2004-12-01

Although in Fischer-344 rats, aging is associated with increased activation of EGF-receptor (EGFR) in mucosa of much of the gastrointestinal tract, including the colon, regulation of this process is poorly understood. We hypothesize that loss of suppressor of EGFR may partly be responsible for this process. To test this hypothesis, we examined the expression of EGFR related protein (ERRP), a recently identified negative regulator of EGFR, in the colonic mucosa during aging and following administration of the colonic carcinogen dimethylhydrazine (DMH) that resulted in the formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF), which are considered to be precursor of adenoma and carcinoma. In Fischer-344 rats, aging is associated with increased activation of EGFR in the colonic mucosa, as evidenced by 30-35% increase in the levels of tyrosine phosphorylated EGFR in the proximal and distal colon of aged (20-22 months old) than in young (4-6 months old) rats. In contrast, the levels of ERRP in both regions of the colon of aged rats were decreased by 50-60%, compared to their younger counterparts. Administration of DMH, which induced a greater number of ACF in the colon of aged rats than in young animals, resulted in a corresponding reduction in ERRP in the colon. These results suggest that loss of ERRP expression is a common event during aging and early stages of chemically induced colon cancer. We also suggest that loss of ERRP could be a risk factor for developing colorectal cancer in the older population.

Neonatal hydrocortisone treatment related to 1H-MRS of the hippocampus and short-term memory at school age in preterm born children.

Science.gov (United States)

Rademaker, Karin J; Rijpert, Maarten; Uiterwaal, Cuno S P M; Lieftink, Arno F; van Bel, Frank; Grobbee, Diederick E; de Vries, Linda S; Groenendaal, Floris

2006-02-01

Animal studies have shown that corticosteroids (dexamethasone) cause neuronal loss in the hippocampus and deficits in short term memory. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy can measure brain metabolites in vivo and give an indication of neuronal integrity. We investigated whether prolonged administration of hydrocortisone during the neonatal period for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm born children changes the metabolism in the hippocampus, measured at school age. Secondly, we investigated whether hippocampal metabolism and short-term memory and neurodevelopmental outcome are related. In this observational study 37 preterm born children (children were treated with hydrocortisone for BPD (starting dose 5 mg/kg/d tapered over a minimum period of 22 d, median duration 28 d) and 19 never received corticosteroids during the perinatal period. N-acetyl aspartate/ Choline + Creatine/phosphocreatine (NAA/(Cho + Cr)) ratios were determined. A 15-word recall memory test and an IQ measurement were obtained on the same day. Hydrocortisone treated children were younger, lighter and sicker than their nonsteroid treated counterparts. Mean NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratios in the hippocampus were not significantly different in the hydrocortisone group compared with the non-steroid group. Performance on the 15-word memory test and IQ were similar in the two groups. There was no relation between NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratios and memory nor between NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratios and IQ. We conclude that hydrocortisone in the mentioned dose, administered in the neonatal period for BPD, does not appear to have any long-term effects on memory and/or hippocampal metabolism.

The effect of functional hearing loss and age on long- and short-term visuospatial memory: evidence from the UK biobank resource

OpenAIRE

Rönnberg, Jerker; Hygge, Staffan; Keidser, Gitte; Rudner, Mary

2014-01-01

The UK Biobank offers cross-sectional epidemiological data collected on > 500 000 individuals in the UK between 40 and 70 years of age. Using the UK Biobank data, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of functional hearing loss and hearing aid usage on visuospatial memory function. This selection of variables resulted in a sub-sample of 138 098 participants after discarding extreme values. A digit triplets functional hearing test was used to divide the participants into three g...

Age-related changes in overcoming proactive interference in associative memory: The role of PFC-mediated executive control processes at retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Dulas, Michael R; Duarte, Audrey

2016-05-15

Behavioral evidence has shown age-related impairments in overcoming proactive interference in memory, but it is unclear what underlies this deficit. Imaging studies in the young suggest overcoming interference may require several executive control processes supported by the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC). The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated whether age-related changes in dissociable executive control processes underlie deficits in overcoming proactive interference in associative memory during retrieval. Participants were tasked with remembering which associate (face or scene) objects were paired with most recently during study, under conditions of high or low proactive interference. Behavioral results demonstrated that, as interference increased, memory performance decreased similarly across groups, with slight associative memory deficits in older adults. Imaging results demonstrated that, across groups, left mid-VLPFC showed increasing activity with increasing interference, though activity did not distinguish correct from incorrect associative memory responses, suggesting this region may not directly serve in successful resolution of proactive interference, per se. Under conditions of high interference, older adults showed reduced associative memory accuracy effects in the DLPFC and anterior PFC. These results suggest that age-related PFC dysfunction may not be ubiquitous. Executive processes supported by ventral regions that detect mnemonic interference may be less affected than processes supported by dorsal and anterior regions that directly resolve interference. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Treadmill running prevents age-related memory deficit and alters neurotrophic factors and oxidative damage in the hippocampus of Wistar rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanzella, Cláudia; Neves, Juliana Dalibor; Vizuete, Adriana Fernanda; Aristimunha, Dirceu; Kolling, Janaína; Longoni, Aline; Gonçalves, Carlos Alberto Saraiva; Wyse, Angela T S; Netto, Carlos Alexandre

2017-09-15

Clinical and pre-clinical studies indicate that exercise is beneficial to many aspects of brain function especially during aging. The present study investigated the effects of a treadmill running protocol in young (3month-old) and aged (22month-old) male Wistar rats, on: I) cognitive function, as assessed by spatial reference memory in the Morris water maze; II) oxidative stress parameters and the expression of neurotrophic factors BDNF, NT-3, IGF-1 and VEGF in the hippocampus. Animals of both ages were assigned to sedentary (non-exercised) and exercised (20min of daily running sessions, 3 times per week for 4weeks) groups. Cognition was assessed by a reference memory task run in the Morris water maze; twenty four hours after last session of behavioral testing hippocampi were collected for biochemical analysis. Results demonstrate that the moderate treadmill running exercise: I) prevented age-related deficits in reference memory in the Morris water maze; II) prevented the age-related increase of reactive oxygen species levels and lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus; III) caused an increase of BDNF, NT-3 and IGF-1 expression in the hippocampus of aged rats. Taken together, results suggest that both exercise molecular effects, namely the reduction of oxidative stress and the increase of neurotrophic factors expression in the hippocampus, might be related to its positive effect on memory performance in aged rats. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Moringa oleifera Mitigates Memory Impairment and Neurodegeneration in Animal Model of Age-Related Dementia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chatchada Sutalangka

2013-01-01

Full Text Available To date, the preventive strategy against dementia is still essential due to the rapid growth of its prevalence and the limited therapeutic efficacy. Based on the crucial role of oxidative stress in age-related dementia and the antioxidant and nootropic activities of Moringa oleifera, the enhancement of spatial memory and neuroprotection of M. oleifera leaves extract in animal model of age-related dementia was determined. The possible underlying mechanism was also investigated. Male Wistar rats, weighing 180–220 g, were orally given M. oleifera leaves extract at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg at a period of 7 days before and 7 days after the intracerebroventricular administration of AF64A bilaterally. Then, they were assessed memory, neuron density, MDA level, and the activities of SOD, CAT, GSH-Px, and AChE in hippocampus. The results showed that the extract improved spatial memory and neurodegeneration in CA1, CA2, CA3, and dentate gyrus of hippocampus together with the decreased MDA level and AChE activity but increased SOD and CAT activities. Therefore, our data suggest that M. oleifera leaves extract is the potential cognitive enhancer and neuroprotectant. The possible mechanism might occur partly via the decreased oxidative stress and the enhanced cholinergic function. However, further explorations concerning active ingredient(s are still required.

Adult age-differences in subjective impression of emotional faces are reflected in emotion-related attention and memory tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joakim eSvard

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Although younger and older adults appear to attend to and remember emotional faces differently, less is known about age-related differences in the subjective emotional impression (arousal, potency, and valence of emotional faces and how these differences, in turn, are reflected in age differences in various emotional tasks. In the current study, we used the same facial emotional stimuli (angry and happy faces in four tasks: emotional rating, attention, categorical perception, and visual short-term memory (VSTM. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of age on the subjective emotional impression of angry and happy faces and to examine whether any age differences were mirrored in measures of emotional behavior (attention, categorical perception, and memory.In addition, regression analyses were used to further study impression-behavior associations. Forty younger adults (range 20-30 years and thirty-nine older adults (range 65-75 years participated in the experiment. The emotional rating task showed that older adults perceived less arousal, potency, and valence than younger adults and that the difference was more pronounced for angry than happy faces. Similarly, the results of the attention and memory tasks demonstrated interaction effects between emotion and age, and age differences on these measures were larger for angry than for happy faces. Regression analyses confirmed that in both age groups, higher potency ratings predicted both visual search and visual short-term memory efficiency. Future studies should consider the possibility that age differences in the subjective emotional impression of facial emotional stimuli may explain age differences in attention to and memory of such stimuli.

Administration of red ginseng ameliorates memory decline in aged mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yeonju; Oh, Seikwan

2015-07-01

It has been known that ginseng can be applied as a potential nutraceutical for memory impairment; however, experiments with animals of old age are few. To determine the memory enhancing effect of red ginseng, C57BL/6 mice (21 mo old) were given experimental diet pellets containing 0.12% red ginseng extract (approximately 200 mg/kg/d) for 3 mo. Young and old mice (4 mo and 21 mo old, respectively) were used as the control group. The effect of red ginseng, which ameliorated memory impairment in aged mice, was quantified using Y-maze test, novel objective test, and Morris water maze. Red ginseng ameliorated age-related declines in learning and memory in older mice. In addition, red ginseng's effect on the induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase and proinflammatory cytokines was investigated in the hippocampus of aged mice. Red ginseng treatment suppressed the production of age-processed inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β expressions. Moreover, it was observed that red ginseng had an antioxidative effect on aged mice. The suppressed glutathione level in aged mice was restored with red ginseng treatment. The antioxidative-related enzymes Nrf2 and HO-1 were increased with red ginseng treatment. The results revealed that when red ginseng is administered over long periods, age-related decline of learning and memory is ameliorated through anti-inflammatory activity.

Senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) as a model of age-related hearing loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Marie, Aurore; Larroze-Chicot, Philippe; Cosnier-Pucheu, Sylvie; Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Sergio

2017-08-24

Hearing loss is the most common form of sensory impairment in humans, affecting 5.3% worldwide population. In industrial countries, age-related hearing loss is a major health problem affecting one-third of individuals over 65years old. However, the physiological and molecular changes involved in this senescence process remain unclear. In this study, we determined the influence of age on auditory brainstem response (ABR) and the distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) in the premature senescence mouse model SAMP8 for five months. We showed a progressive increase of ABR thresholds and a decrease of distortion product amplitude from 37days old in SAMP8 compared to CBA mice. The data we show here provide new knowledge in functional auditory changes during the senescence process and open up new opportunities for the development of new drugs involved in age-related hearing loss treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Divergent Trajectories in the Aging Mind: Changes in Working Memory for Affective Versus Visual Information With Age

OpenAIRE

Mikels, Joseph A.; Larkin, Gregory R.; Reuter-Lorenz, Patricia A.; Carstensen, Laura L.

2005-01-01

Working memory mediates the short-term maintenance of information. Virtually all empirical research on working memory involves investigations of working memory for verbal and visual information. Whereas aging is typically associated with a deficit in working memory for these types of information, recent findings suggestive of relatively well-preserved long-term memory for emotional information in older adults raise questions about working memory for emotional material. This study examined age...

Hippocampus-dependent spatial memory impairment due to molar tooth loss is ameliorated by an enriched environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kondo, Hiroko; Kurahashi, Minori; Mori, Daisuke; Iinuma, Mitsuo; Tamura, Yasuo; Mizutani, Kenmei; Shimpo, Kan; Sonoda, Shigeru; Azuma, Kagaku; Kubo, Kin-ya

2016-01-01

Teeth are crucial, not only for mastication, but for overall nutrition and general health, including cognitive function. Aged mice with chronic stress due to tooth loss exhibit impaired hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. Exposure to an enriched environment restores the reduced hippocampal function. Here, we explored the effects of an enriched environment on learning deficits and hippocampal morphologic changes in aged senescence-accelerated mouse strain P8 (SAMP8) mice with tooth loss. Eight-month-old male aged SAMP8 mice with molar intact or with molars removed were housed in either a standard environment or enriched environment for 3 weeks. The Morris water maze was performed for spatial memory test. The newborn cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation in the hippocampus were analyzed using 5-Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) immunohistochemical method. The hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels were also measured. Mice with upper molars removed (molarless) exhibited a significant decline in the proliferation and survival of newborn cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) as well as in hippocampal BDNF levels. In addition, neuronal differentiation of newly generated cells was suppressed and hippocampus-dependent spatial memory was impaired. Exposure of molarless mice to an enriched environment attenuated the reductions in the hippocampal BDNF levels and neuronal differentiation, and partially improved the proliferation and survival of newborn cells, as well as the spatial memory ability. These findings indicated that an enriched environment could ameliorate the hippocampus-dependent spatial memory impairment induced by molar tooth loss. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proactive interference and concurrent inhibitory processes do not differentially affect item and associative recognition: Implication for the age-related associative memory deficit.

Science.gov (United States)

Guez, Jonathan; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2016-09-01

Previous studies have suggested an associative deficit hypothesis [Naveh-Benjamin, M. ( 2000 ). Adult age differences in memory performance: Tests of an associative deficit hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 1170-1187] to explain age-related episodic memory declines. The hypothesis attributes part of the deficient episodic memory performance in older adults to a difficulty in creating and retrieving cohesive episodes. In this article, we further evaluate this hypothesis by testing two alternative processes that potentially mediate associative memory deficits in older adults. Four experiments are presented that assess whether failure of inhibitory processes (proactive interference in Experiments 1 and 2), and concurrent inhibition (in Experiments 3 and 4) are mediating factors in age-related associative deficits. The results suggest that creating conditions that require the operation of inhibitory processes, or that interfere with such processes, cannot simulate associative memory deficit in older adults. Instead, such results support the idea that associative memory deficits reflect a unique binding failure in older adults. This failure seems to be independent of other cognitive processes, including inhibitory and other resource-demanding processes.

Pomegranate Juice Augments Memory and fMRI Activity in Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Mild Memory Complaints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan Y. Bookheimer

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Despite increasing emphasis on the potential of dietary antioxidants in preventing memory loss and on diet as a precursor of neurological health, rigorous studies investigating the cognitive effects of foods and their components are rare. Recent animal studies have reported memory and other cognitive benefits of polyphenols, found abundantly in pomegranate juice. We performed a preliminary, placebo-controlled randomized trial of pomegranate juice in older subjects with age-associated memory complaints using memory testing and functional brain activation (fMRI as outcome measures. Thirty-two subjects (28 completers were randomly assigned to drink 8 ounces of either pomegranate juice or a flavor-matched placebo drink for 4 weeks. Subjects received memory testing, fMRI scans during cognitive tasks, and blood draws for peripheral biomarkers before and after the intervention. Investigators and subjects were all blind to group membership. After 4 weeks, only the pomegranate group showed a significant improvement in the Buschke selective reminding test of verbal memory and a significant increase in plasma trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC and urolithin A-glucuronide. Furthermore, compared to the placebo group, the pomegranate group had increased fMRI activity during verbal and visual memory tasks. While preliminary, these results suggest a role for pomegranate juice in augmenting memory function through task-related increases in functional brain activity.

Memory and aging: What is the real impact of age?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helena Espirito-Santo

2016-09-01

Results. Overall, age, education, profession, marital, residential, and clinical condition have differently influenced memory, depending on the type of memory. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that age is a predictive factor in all types of memory. However, other predictors have emerged with higher regression coefficients compared to age, according to the type of memory (except in working memory. Conclusions. Age, education and profession influence memory, as well as factors that potentially stimulate cognitively and socially (like having a partner and living in the community. The results indicate the importance of intervening, especially among institutionalized elderly, older, unmarried, with low education, and manual profession.

Age-related hearing loss: prevention of threshold declines, cell loss and apoptosis in spiral ganglion neurons

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Xiaoxia; Walton, Joseph P.

2016-01-01

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) -presbycusis - is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and number one communication disorder of our aged population; and affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Its prevalence is close to that of cardiovascular disease and arthritis, and can be a precursor to dementia. The auditory perceptual dysfunction is well understood, but knowledge of the biological bases of ARHL is still somewhat lacking. Surprisingly, there are no FDA-approved drugs for treatment. Based on our previous studies of human subjects, where we discovered relations between serum aldosterone levels and the severity of ARHL, we treated middle age mice with aldosterone, which normally declines with age in all mammals. We found that hearing thresholds and suprathreshold responses significantly improved in the aldosterone-treated mice compared to the non-treatment group. In terms of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this therapeutic effect, additional experiments revealed that spiral ganglion cell survival was significantly improved, mineralocorticoid receptors were upregulated via post-translational protein modifications, and age-related intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways were blocked by the aldosterone therapy. Taken together, these novel findings pave the way for translational drug development towards the first medication to prevent the progression of ARHL. PMID:27667674

The Influence of Age-Related Differences in Prior Knowledge and Attentional Refreshing Opportunities on Episodic Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Loaiza, Vanessa M; Rhodes, Matthew G; Anglin, Julia

2015-09-01

The assumption that working memory (WM) is embedded within long-term memory suggests that the effectiveness of switching information between activated states in WM (i.e., attentional refreshing) may depend on whether that information is semantically relevant. Given that older adults often have greater general knowledge than younger adults, age-related deficits in episodic memory (EM) could be ameliorated by studying information that has existing semantic representations compared with unknown information. Younger and older adults completed a modified operation span task that varied the number of refreshing opportunities. The memoranda used were equally known to younger and older adults (neutral words; e.g., father), better known to older adults than younger adults (dated words; e.g., mirth), or unknown to both groups (unknown words; e.g., cobot). Results for immediate and delayed recall indicated an age-related improvement for dated memoranda and no age difference for unknown memoranda. Furthermore, refreshing opportunities predicted delayed recall of neutral memoranda more strongly for younger adults than older adults, whereas older adults' recall advantage for dated memoranda was explained by their prior knowledge and not refreshing opportunities. The results suggest that older adults' EM deficits could potentially be ameliorated by incorporating their superior knowledge to supplement relatively ineffective attentional refreshing in WM. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Transparent meta-analysis: does aging spare prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bob Uttl

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Prospective memory (ProM is the ability to become aware of a previously-formed plan at the right time and place. For over twenty years, researchers have been debating whether prospective memory declines with aging or whether it is spared by aging and, most recently, whether aging spares prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues. Two recent meta-analyses examining these claims did not include all relevant studies and ignored prevalent ceiling effects, age confounds, and did not distinguish between prospective memory subdomains (e.g., ProM proper, vigilance, habitual ProM (see Uttl, 2008, PLoS ONE. The present meta-analysis focuses on the following questions: Does prospective memory decline with aging? Does prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues decline with aging? Does the size of age-related declines with focal vs. non-focal cues vary across ProM subdomains? And are age-related declines in ProM smaller than age-related declines in retrospective memory? METHODS AND FINDINGS: A meta-analysis of event-cued ProM using data visualization and modeling, robust count methods, and conventional meta-analysis techniques revealed that first, the size of age-related declines in ProM with both focal and non-focal cues are large. Second, age-related declines in ProM with focal cues are larger in ProM proper and smaller in vigilance. Third, age-related declines in ProM proper with focal cues are as large as age-related declines in recall measures of retrospective memory. CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with Craik's (1983 proposal that age-related declines on ProM tasks are generally large, support the distinction between ProM proper vs. vigilance, and directly contradict widespread claims that ProM, with or without focal cues, is spared by aging.

The Effects of Aging on the Components of Auditory – Verbal Short-Term Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clémence Verhaegen

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study aimed at exploring the effects of aging on the multiple components of the auditory-verbal short-term memory (STM. Participants of 45–54, 55–64, 65–74 and 75–84 years of age were presented STM tasks assessing short-term retention of order and item information, and of phonological and lexical-semantic information separately. Because older participants often present reduced hearing levels, we sought to control for an effect of hearing status on performance on STM tasks. Participants’ hearing thresholds were measured with a pure-tone audiometer. The results showed age-related effects on all STM components. However, after hearing status was controlled for in analyses of covariance, the age-related differences became non-significant for all STM processes. The fact that age-related hearing loss may in large part explain decreases in performance on STM tasks with aging is discussed.

Associations between speech understanding and auditory and visual tests of verbal working memory: effects of linguistic complexity, task, age, and hearing loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Sherri L; Pichora-Fuller, M Kathleen

2015-01-01

Listeners with hearing loss commonly report having difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments. Their difficulties could be due to auditory and cognitive processing problems. Performance on speech-in-noise tests has been correlated with reading working memory span (RWMS), a measure often chosen to avoid the effects of hearing loss. If the goal is to assess the cognitive consequences of listeners' auditory processing abilities, however, then listening working memory span (LWMS) could be a more informative measure. Some studies have examined the effects of different degrees and types of masking on working memory, but less is known about the demands placed on working memory depending on the linguistic complexity of the target speech or the task used to measure speech understanding in listeners with hearing loss. Compared to RWMS, LWMS measures using different speech targets and maskers may provide a more ecologically valid approach. To examine the contributions of RWMS and LWMS to speech understanding, we administered two working memory measures (a traditional RWMS measure and a new LWMS measure), and a battery of tests varying in the linguistic complexity of the speech materials, the presence of babble masking, and the task. Participants were a group of younger listeners with normal hearing and two groups of older listeners with hearing loss (n = 24 per group). There was a significant group difference and a wider range in performance on LWMS than on RWMS. There was a significant correlation between both working memory measures only for the oldest listeners with hearing loss. Notably, there were only few significant correlations among the working memory and speech understanding measures. These findings suggest that working memory measures reflect individual differences that are distinct from those tapped by these measures of speech understanding.

Associations between speech understanding and auditory and visual tests of verbal working memory: effects of linguistic complexity, task, age, and hearing loss

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Sherri L.; Pichora-Fuller, M. Kathleen

2015-01-01

Listeners with hearing loss commonly report having difficulty understanding speech, particularly in noisy environments. Their difficulties could be due to auditory and cognitive processing problems. Performance on speech-in-noise tests has been correlated with reading working memory span (RWMS), a measure often chosen to avoid the effects of hearing loss. If the goal is to assess the cognitive consequences of listeners’ auditory processing abilities, however, then listening working memory span (LWMS) could be a more informative measure. Some studies have examined the effects of different degrees and types of masking on working memory, but less is known about the demands placed on working memory depending on the linguistic complexity of the target speech or the task used to measure speech understanding in listeners with hearing loss. Compared to RWMS, LWMS measures using different speech targets and maskers may provide a more ecologically valid approach. To examine the contributions of RWMS and LWMS to speech understanding, we administered two working memory measures (a traditional RWMS measure and a new LWMS measure), and a battery of tests varying in the linguistic complexity of the speech materials, the presence of babble masking, and the task. Participants were a group of younger listeners with normal hearing and two groups of older listeners with hearing loss (n = 24 per group). There was a significant group difference and a wider range in performance on LWMS than on RWMS. There was a significant correlation between both working memory measures only for the oldest listeners with hearing loss. Notably, there were only few significant correlations among the working memory and speech understanding measures. These findings suggest that working memory measures reflect individual differences that are distinct from those tapped by these measures of speech understanding. PMID:26441769

Age-related changes in neural oscillations supporting context memory retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Strunk, Jonathan; James, Taylor; Arndt, Jason; Duarte, Audrey

2017-06-01

Recent evidence suggests that directing attention toward single item-context associations during encoding improves young and older adults' context memory performance and reduces demands on executive functions during retrieval. In everyday situations, there are many event features competing for our attention, and our ability to successfully recover those details may depend on our ability to ignore others. Failures of selective attention may contribute to older adults' context memory impairments. In the current electroencephalogram (EEG) study, we assessed the effects of age on processes supporting successful context memory retrieval of selectively attended features as indexed by neural oscillations. During encoding, young and older adults were directed to attend to a picture of an object and its relationship to one of two concurrently presented contextual details: a color or scene. At retrieval, we tested their memory for the object, its attended and unattended context features, and their confidence for both the attended and unattended features. Both groups showed greater memory for attended than unattended contextual features. However, older adults showed evidence of hyper-binding between attended and unattended context features while the young adults did not. EEG results in the theta band suggest that young and older adults recollect similar amounts of information but brain-behavior correlations suggest that this information was supportive of contextual memory performance, particularly for young adults. By contrast, sustained beta desynchronization, indicative of sensory reactivation and episodic reconstruction, was correlated with contextual memory performance for older adults only. We conclude that older adults' inhibition deficits during encoding reduced the selectivity of their contextual memories, which led to reliance on executive functions like episodic reconstruction to support successful memory retrieval. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

The psychological distance of memories: Examining causal relations with mood and self-esteem in young, middle-aged and older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Demiray, Burcu; Freund, Alexandra M

2017-03-01

Three studies examined the self-enhancement function of autobiographical memory (measured with subjective temporal distance of memories). Participants recalled a memory of an attained and a failed goal and rated the subjective distance between each memory and the present. Study 1 showed that young adults with higher self-esteem felt closer to memories of attained goals and farther from failure memories than those with lower self-esteem. In Study 2, young, middle-aged and older adults with higher self-esteem felt closer to success memories, whereas self-esteem was unrelated to the temporal distance of failure memories. In both studies, feeling closer to success memories (and far from failure) led to enhanced mood. In Study 3, state self-esteem was experimentally manipulated. The manipulation had no effect on young and older adults, but middle-aged adults whose self-esteem was decreased, felt closer to success memories than failure memories. Results are discussed in relation to the temporal self-appraisal theory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of naming game over networks in the presence of memory loss

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Guiyuan; Cai, Yunze; Zhang, Weidong

2017-08-01

In this paper, we study the dynamics of naming game where individuals are under the influence of memory loss. An extended naming game incorporating memory loss is proposed. Different from the existing naming game models, the individual in the proposed model would forget some words with a probability in his memory during interaction and keep his conveyed word unchanged until he reaches a local agreement. We analyze the dynamics of the proposed model through extensive and comprehensive simulations, where four typical networks with different configuration are employed. The influence of memory loss as well as the population size on the performance of the proposed model is investigated. The simulation results show that (i) the stronger memory loss, the larger convergence time; (ii) as the strength of memory loss becomes stronger, maximum number of total words will decrease, while the maximum number of different words among the population remains almost unchanged; (iii) the maximum number of different words increases linearly with the increase of the population size and coincides with each other under different strength of memory loss. The findings in the proposed model may give an insight to understand better the influence of memory loss on the transient dynamics of language evolution and opinion formation over networks.

Changes in brain network efficiency and working memory performance in aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanley, Matthew L; Simpson, Sean L; Dagenbach, Dale; Lyday, Robert G; Burdette, Jonathan H; Laurienti, Paul J

2015-01-01

Working memory is a complex psychological construct referring to the temporary storage and active processing of information. We used functional connectivity brain network metrics quantifying local and global efficiency of information transfer for predicting individual variability in working memory performance on an n-back task in both young (n = 14) and older (n = 15) adults. Individual differences in both local and global efficiency during the working memory task were significant predictors of working memory performance in addition to age (and an interaction between age and global efficiency). Decreases in local efficiency during the working memory task were associated with better working memory performance in both age cohorts. In contrast, increases in global efficiency were associated with much better working performance for young participants; however, increases in global efficiency were associated with a slight decrease in working memory performance for older participants. Individual differences in local and global efficiency during resting-state sessions were not significant predictors of working memory performance. Significant group whole-brain functional network decreases in local efficiency also were observed during the working memory task compared to rest, whereas no significant differences were observed in network global efficiency. These results are discussed in relation to recently developed models of age-related differences in working memory.

Tooth loss might not alter molecular pathogenesis in an aged transgenic Alzheimer's disease model mouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Oue, Hiroshi; Miyamoto, Yasunari; Koretake, Katsunori; Okada, Shinsuke; Doi, Kazuya; Jung, Cha-Gyun; Michikawa, Makoto; Akagawa, Yasumasa

2016-09-01

Previous studies have reported that tooth loss is a risk factor of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the association between tooth loss and cognition and the impact of tooth loss on the molecular pathogenesis of AD remain elusive. In this study, we tested the effect of tooth loss on learning and memory and on the molecular pathogenesis of AD in an aged AD model mice. We divided 14-month-old amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice, an AD model mouse line, into upper molar extracted group (experimental) and molar intact group (control). At 18 months old, we analysed not only the changes of amyloid-beta (Aβ), pyramidal cells in the brain but also the learning and memory ability with step-through passive avoidance test. The amount of Aβ and the number of pyramidal cells in the hippocampus were not significantly different between the experimental and control group. Similarly, the difference of learning and memory ability could not be distinguished between the groups. Neither molecular pathogenesis of AD nor associated learning and memory were aggravated by tooth loss in these mice. The limited results of this study which used the aged mice may help the dental profession to plan and explain treatments to patients with AD, which must be designed while taking into account the severity of the AD symptoms. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S and The Gerodontology Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Functional brain imaging of episodic memory decline in ageing.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyberg, L

2017-01-01

The episodic long-term memory system supports remembering of events. It is considered to be the most age-sensitive system, with an average onset of decline around 60 years of age. However, there is marked interindividual variability, such that some individuals show faster than average change and others show no or very little change. This variability may be related to the risk of developing dementia, with elevated risk for individuals with accelerated episodic memory decline. Brain imaging with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signalling or positron emission tomography (PET) has been used to reveal the brain bases of declining episodic memory in ageing. Several studies have demonstrated a link between age-related episodic memory decline and the hippocampus during active mnemonic processing, which is further supported by studies of hippocampal functional connectivity in the resting state. The hippocampus interacts with anterior and posterior neocortical regions to support episodic memory, and alterations in hippocampus-neocortex connectivity have been shown to contribute to impaired episodic memory. Multimodal MRI studies and more recently hybrid MRI/PET studies allow consideration of various factors that can influence the association between the hippocampal BOLD signal and memory performance. These include neurovascular factors, grey and white matter structural alterations, dopaminergic neurotransmission, amyloid-Β and glucose metabolism. Knowledge about the brain bases of episodic memory decline can guide interventions to strengthen memory in older adults, particularly in those with an elevated risk of developing dementia, with promising results for combinations of cognitive and physical stimulation. © 2016 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Medial prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity during emotional memory encoding predicts individual differences in the loss of associative memory specificity.

Science.gov (United States)

Berkers, Ruud M W J; Klumpers, Floris; Fernández, Guillén

2016-10-01

Emotionally charged items are often remembered better, whereas a paradoxical loss of specificity is found for associative emotional information (specific memory). The balance between specific and generalized emotional memories appears to show large individual differences, potentially related to differences in (the risk for) affective disorders that are characterized by 'overgeneralized' emotional memories. Here, we investigate the neural underpinnings of individual differences in emotional associative memory. A large group of healthy male participants were scanned while encoding associations of face-photographs and written occupational identities that were of either neutral ('driver') or negative ('murderer') valence. Subsequently, memory was tested by prompting participants to retrieve the occupational identities corresponding to each face. Whereas in both valence categories a similar amount of faces was labeled correctly with 'neutral' and 'negative' identities, (gist memory), specific associations were found to be less accurately remembered when the occupational identity was negative compared to neutral (specific memory). This pattern of results suggests reduced memory specificity for associations containing a negatively valenced component. The encoding of these negative associations was paired with a selective increase in medial prefrontal cortex activity and medial prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity. Individual differences in valence-specific neural connectivity were predictive of valence-specific reduction of memory specificity. The relationship between loss of emotional memory specificity and medial prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity is in line with the hypothesized role of a medial prefrontal-hippocampal circuit in regulating memory specificity, and warrants further investigations in individuals displaying 'overgeneralized' emotional memories. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fast progressive memory loss in a 63-year-old man

OpenAIRE

De Smet, K; De Maeseneer, M; Yazdi Amir, T; De Mey, J

2011-01-01

A 63-year-old man presented to the neurology department with fast progressive memory loss especially short term memory. For 2 weeks he had experienced loss of orientation, judgment difficulties, and concentration problems. A CT scan of the brain was normal.

Age-related Decline in Case-Marker Processing and its Relation to Working Memory Capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, Jee Eun

2017-09-01

Purposes of the current study were to investigate whether age-related decline emerged in a case-marker assignment task (CMAT) and to explore the relationship between working-memory (WM) capacity and case-marker processing. A total of 121 individuals participated in the study with 62 younger adults and 59 elderly adults. All were administered a CMAT that consisted of active and passive constructions with canonical and noncanonical word-order conditions. A composite measure of WM tasks served as an index of participants' WM capacity. The older group performed worse than the younger group, and the noncanonical word order elicited worse performance than the canonical condition. The older group demonstrated greater difficulty in case-marker processing under the canonical condition and passive construction. Regression results revealed that age, education, and sentence type were the best predictors to account for performance on the CMAT. The canonicity of word order and passive construction were critical factors related to decline in abilities in a case-marker assignment. The combination of age, education, and sentence type factors accounted for overall performance on case-marker processing. Results indicated the crucial necessity to find a cognitively and linguistically demanding condition that elicits aging effects most efficiently, considering language-specific syntactic features. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The impact of aging and hearing status on verbal short-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Verhaegen, Clémence; Collette, Fabienne; Majerus, Steve

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of hearing status on age-related decrease in verbal short-term memory (STM) performance. This was done by administering a battery of verbal STM tasks to elderly and young adult participants matched for hearing thresholds, as well as to young normal-hearing control participants. The matching procedure allowed us to assess the importance of hearing loss as an explanatory factor of age-related STM decline. We observed that elderly participants and hearing-matched young participants showed equal levels of performance in all verbal STM tasks, and performed overall lower than the normal-hearing young control participants. This study provides evidence for recent theoretical accounts considering reduced hearing level as an important explanatory factor of poor auditory-verbal STM performance in older adults.

Modulation of working memory function by motivation through loss-aversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Krawczyk, Daniel C; D'Esposito, Mark

2013-04-01

Cognitive performance is affected by motivation. Few studies, however, have investigated the neural mechanisms of the influence of motivation through potential monetary punishment on working memory. We employed functional MRI during a delayed recognition task that manipulated top-down control demands with added monetary incentives to some trials in the form of potential losses of bonus money. Behavioral performance on the task was influenced by loss-threatening incentives in the form of faster and more accurate performance. As shown previously, we found enhancement of activity for relevant stimuli occurs throughout all task periods (e.g., stimulus encoding, maintenance, and response) in both prefrontal and visual association cortex. Further, these activation patterns were enhanced for trials with possible monetary loss relative to nonincentive trials. During the incentive cue, the amygdala and striatum showed significantly greater activation when money was at a possible loss on the trial. We also evaluated patterns of functional connectivity between regions responsive to monetary consequences and prefrontal areas responsive to the task. This analysis revealed greater delay period connectivity between and the left insula and prefrontal cortex with possible monetary loss relative to nonincentive trials. Overall, these results reveal that incentive motivation can modulate performance on working memory tasks through top-down signals via amplification of activity within prefrontal and visual association regions selective to processing the perceptual inputs of the stimuli to be remembered. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The own-age bias in face memory is unrelated to differences in attention--evidence from event-related potentials.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Markus F; End, Albert; Luttmann, Stefanie; Schweinberger, Stefan R; Wiese, Holger

2015-03-01

Participants are more accurate at remembering faces from their own relative to a different age group (the own-age bias, or OAB). A recent socio-cognitive account has suggested that differential allocation of attention to old versus young faces underlies this phenomenon. Critically, empirical evidence for a direct relationship between attention to own- versus other-age faces and the OAB in memory is lacking. To fill this gap, we tested the roles of attention in three different experimental paradigms, and additionally analyzed event-related brain potentials (ERPs). In Experiment 1, we compared the learning of old and young faces during focused versus divided attention, but revealed similar OABs in subsequent memory for both attention conditions. Similarly, manipulating attention during learning did not differentially affect the ERPs elicited by young versus old faces. In Experiment 2, we examined the repetition effects from task-irrelevant old and young faces presented under varying attentional loads on the N250r ERP component as an index of face recognition. Independent of load, the N250r effects were comparable for both age categories. Finally, in Experiment 3 we measured the N2pc as an index of attentional selection of old versus young target faces in a visual search task. The N2pc was not significantly different for the young versus the old target search conditions, suggesting similar orientations of attention to either face age group. Overall, we propose that the OAB in memory is largely unrelated to early attentional processes. Our findings therefore contrast with the predictions from socio-cognitive accounts on own-group biases in recognition memory, and are more easily reconciled with expertise-based models.

Age-Related Declines in Early Sensory Memory: Identification of Rapid Auditory and Visual Stimulus Sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Fogerty, Daniel; Humes, Larry E; Busey, Thomas A

2016-01-01

Age-related temporal-processing declines of rapidly presented sequences may involve contributions of sensory memory. This study investigated recall for rapidly presented auditory (vowel) and visual (letter) sequences presented at six different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) that spanned threshold SOAs for sequence identification. Younger, middle-aged, and older adults participated in all tasks. Results were investigated at both equivalent performance levels (i.e., SOA threshold) and at identical physical stimulus values (i.e., SOAs). For four-item sequences, results demonstrated best performance for the first and last items in the auditory sequences, but only the first item for visual sequences. For two-item sequences, adults identified the second vowel or letter significantly better than the first. Overall, when temporal-order performance was equated for each individual by testing at SOA thresholds, recall accuracy for each position across the age groups was highly similar. These results suggest that modality-specific processing declines of older adults primarily determine temporal-order performance for rapid sequences. However, there is some evidence for a second amodal processing decline in older adults related to early sensory memory for final items in a sequence. This selective deficit was observed particularly for longer sequence lengths and was not accounted for by temporal masking.

Transparent meta-analysis of prospective memory and aging.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bob Uttl

Full Text Available Prospective memory (ProM refers to our ability to become aware of a previously formed plan at the right time and place. After two decades of research on prospective memory and aging, narrative reviews and summaries have arrived at widely different conclusions. One view is that prospective memory shows large age declines, larger than age declines on retrospective memory (RetM. Another view is that prospective memory is an exception to age declines and remains invariant across the adult lifespan. The present meta-analysis of over twenty years of research settles this controversy. It shows that prospective memory declines with aging and that the magnitude of age decline varies by prospective memory subdomain (vigilance, prospective memory proper, habitual prospective memory as well as test setting (laboratory, natural. Moreover, this meta-analysis demonstrates that previous claims of no age declines in prospective memory are artifacts of methodological and conceptual issues afflicting prior research including widespread ceiling effects, low statistical power, age confounds, and failure to distinguish between various subdomains of prospective memory (e.g., vigilance and prospective memory proper.

Declarative memory and skill-related knowledge: Evidence from a case study of amnesia and implications for theories of memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, Emma; McCloskey, Michael; Ovans, Zoe; Landau, Barbara

2016-01-01

Theoretical and empirical studies of memory have long been framed by a distinction between declarative and non-declarative memory. We question the sharpness of the distinction by reporting evidence from amnesic L.S.J., who despite retrograde memory losses in declarative knowledge domains, shows sparing of declarative knowledge related to premorbid skill (e.g., playing an instrument). We previously showed that L.S.J. had severe losses of retrograde declarative knowledge across areas of premorbid expertise (e.g., artists of famous works) and everyday knowledge (e.g., company names for logos). Here we present evidence that L.S.J. has sparing of what we call skill-related declarative knowledge, in four domains in which she had premorbid skill (art, music, aviation, driving). L.S.J.'s pattern of loss and sparing raises questions about the strict separation between classically-defined memory types and aligns with a recent proposal by Stanley and Krakauer [2013. Motor skill depends on knowledge of facts. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7,1-11].

Short-term memory loss over time without retroactive stimulus interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Cowan, Nelson; AuBuchon, Angela M

2008-02-01

A key question in cognitive psychology is whether information in short-term memory is lost as a function of time. Lewandowsky, Duncan, and Brown (2004) argued against that memory loss because forgetting in serial recall occurred to the same extent across serial positions regardless of the rate of recall. However, we believe Lewandowsky et al. (2004) only prevented one of two types of rehearsal; they did not prevent nonarticulatory rehearsal via attention. To prevent articulatory and nonarticulatory rehearsal without introducing interference, we presented unevenly timed stimuli for serial recall and, on some trials, required that the timing of stimuli be reproduced in the response. In those trials only, evidence of memory loss over time emerged. Further research is needed to identify whether this memory loss is decay or lost distinctiveness.

Stuck in default mode: inefficient cross-frequency synchronization may lead to age-related short-term memory decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinal, Diego; Zurrón, Montserrat; Díaz, Fernando; Sauseng, Paul

2015-04-01

Aging-related decline in short-term memory capacity seems to be caused by deficient balancing of task-related and resting state brain networks activity; however, the exact neural mechanism underlying this deficit remains elusive. Here, we studied brain oscillatory activity in healthy young and old adults during visual information maintenance in a delayed match-to-sample task. Particular emphasis was on long range phase:amplitude coupling of frontal alpha (8-12 Hz) and posterior fast oscillatory activity (>30 Hz). It is argued that through posterior fast oscillatory activity nesting into the excitatory or the inhibitory phase of frontal alpha wave, long-range networks can be efficiently coupled or decoupled, respectively. On the basis of this mechanism, we show that healthy, elderly participants exhibit a lack of synchronization in task-relevant networks while maintaining synchronized regions of the resting state network. Lacking disconnection of this resting state network is predictive of aging-related short-term memory decline. These results support the idea of inefficient orchestration of competing brain networks in the aging human brain and identify the neural mechanism responsible for this control breakdown. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The development of episodic memory: items, contexts, and relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Yim, Hyungwook; Dennis, Simon J; Sloutsky, Vladimir M

2013-11-01

Episodic memory involves the formation of relational structures that bind information about the stimuli people experience to the contexts in which they experience them. The ability to form and retain such structures may be at the core of the development of episodic memory. In the first experiment reported here, 4- and 7-year-olds were presented with paired-associate learning tasks requiring memory structures of different complexity. A multinomial-processing tree model was applied to estimate the use of different structures in the two age groups. The use of two-way list-context-to-target structures and three-way structures was found to increase between the ages of 4 and 7. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the ability to form increasingly complex relational memory structures develops between the ages of 4 and 7 years and that this development extends well into adulthood. These results have important implications for theories of memory development.

Chelation of hippocampal zinc enhances long-term potentiation and synaptic tagging/capture in CA1 pyramidal neurons of aged rats: implications to aging and memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Shetty, Mahesh Shivarama; Sharma, Mahima; Sajikumar, Sreedharan

2017-02-01

Aging is associated with decline in cognitive functions, prominently in the memory consolidation and association capabilities. Hippocampus plays a crucial role in the formation and maintenance of long-term associative memories, and a significant body of evidence shows that impairments in hippocampal function correlate with aging-related memory loss. A number of studies have implicated alterations in hippocampal synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation (LTP), in age-related cognitive decline although exact mechanisms underlying are not completely clear. Zinc deficiency and the resultant adverse effects on cognition have been well studied. However, the role of excess of zinc in synaptic plasticity, especially in aging, is not addressed well. Here, we have investigated the hippocampal zinc levels and the impairments in synaptic plasticity, such as LTP and synaptic tagging and capture (STC), in the CA1 region of acute hippocampal slices from 82- to 84-week-old male Wistar rats. We report increased zinc levels in the hippocampus of aged rats and also deficits in the tetani-induced and dopaminergic agonist-induced late-LTP and STC. The observed deficits in synaptic plasticity were restored upon chelation of zinc using a cell-permeable chelator. These data suggest that functional plasticity and associativity can be successfully established in aged neural networks by chelating zinc with cell-permeable chelating agents. © 2016 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Regularity effect in prospective memory during aging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geoffrey Blondelle

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Regularity effect can affect performance in prospective memory (PM, but little is known on the cognitive processes linked to this effect. Moreover, its impacts with regard to aging remain unknown. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine regularity effect in PM in a lifespan perspective, with a sample of young, intermediate, and older adults. Objective and design: Our study examined the regularity effect in PM in three groups of participants: 28 young adults (18–30, 16 intermediate adults (40–55, and 25 older adults (65–80. The task, adapted from the Virtual Week, was designed to manipulate the regularity of the various activities of daily life that were to be recalled (regular repeated activities vs. irregular non-repeated activities. We examine the role of several cognitive functions including certain dimensions of executive functions (planning, inhibition, shifting, and binding, short-term memory, and retrospective episodic memory to identify those involved in PM, according to regularity and age. Results: A mixed-design ANOVA showed a main effect of task regularity and an interaction between age and regularity: an age-related difference in PM performances was found for irregular activities (older < young, but not for regular activities. All participants recalled more regular activities than irregular ones with no age effect. It appeared that recalling of regular activities only involved planning for both intermediate and older adults, while recalling of irregular ones were linked to planning, inhibition, short-term memory, binding, and retrospective episodic memory. Conclusion: Taken together, our data suggest that planning capacities seem to play a major role in remembering to perform intended actions with advancing age. Furthermore, the age-PM-paradox may be attenuated when the experimental design is adapted by implementing a familiar context through the use of activities of daily living. The clinical

A novel method of quantifying brain atrophy associated with age-related hearing loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Jason Qian

2017-01-01

Audiometric evaluations and mini-mental state exams were obtained in 34 subjects over the age of 80 who have had brain MRIs in the past 6 years. CSF and parenchymal brain volumes (whole brain and by lobe were obtained through a novel, fully automated algorithm. Atrophy was calculated by taking the ratio of CSF to parenchyma. High frequency hearing loss was associated with disproportional temporal lobe atrophy relative to whole brain atrophy independent of age (r = 0.471, p = 0.005. Mental state was associated with frontoparietal atrophy but not to temporal lobe atrophy, which is consistent with known results. Our method demonstrates that hearing loss is associated with temporal lobe atrophy and generalized whole brain atrophy. Our algorithm is efficient, fully automated, and able to detect significant associations in a small cohort.

Effects of semantic relatedness on age-related associative memory deficits: the role of theta oscillations.

Science.gov (United States)

Crespo-Garcia, Maite; Cantero, Jose L; Atienza, Mercedes

2012-07-16

Growing evidence suggests that age-related deficits in associative memory are alleviated when the to-be-associated items are semantically related. Here we investigate whether this beneficial effect of semantic relatedness is paralleled by spatio-temporal changes in cortical EEG dynamics during incidental encoding. Young and older adults were presented with faces at a particular spatial location preceded by a biographical cue that was either semantically related or unrelated. As expected, automatic encoding of face-location associations benefited from semantic relatedness in the two groups of age. This effect correlated with increased power of theta oscillations over medial and anterior lateral regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and lateral regions of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in both groups. But better-performing elders also showed increased brain-behavior correlation in the theta band over the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) as compared to young adults. Semantic relatedness was, however, insufficient to fully eliminate age-related differences in associative memory. In line with this finding, poorer-performing elders relative to young adults showed significant reductions of theta power in the left IFG that were further predictive of behavioral impairment in the recognition task. All together, these results suggest that older adults benefit less than young adults from executive processes during encoding mainly due to neural inefficiency over regions of the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). But this associative deficit may be partially compensated for by engaging preexistent semantic knowledge, which likely leads to an efficient recruitment of attentional and integration processes supported by the left PPC and left anterior PFC respectively, together with neural compensatory mechanisms governed by the right VLPFC. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatial-sequential working memory in younger and older adults: age predicts backward recall performance within both age groups

OpenAIRE

Louise A. Brown

2016-01-01

Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18–40 years) and older (64–85 years) adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Sc...

Age differences in visual sensory memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, D A; Thompson, L W

1978-05-01

Age differences in visual sensory memory were studied using the direct measure procedure of Haber and Standing (1969) -- the longest interstimulus interval at which subjects reported a single stimulus as continuous was measured. The visual storage of the young (mean age 24 years) was found to persist for 289 msec compared to 248 for the old (mean age 67 years). Similar estimates of sensory memory duration were obtained when either monoptic or dichoptic stimulus presentations were employed, supporting the idea that visual storage is centrally mediated for both age groups. The relevance of these findings for age differences in the registration of information into primary and secondary memory and their implications for the stimulus persistence hypothesis are considered. The appropriateness and validity of the persistence of form task for studies of sensory memory and aging are also discussed.

BDNF val66met polymorphism affects aging of multiple types of memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Kristen M; Reese, Elizabeth D; Horn, Marci M; Sizemore, April N; Unni, Asha K; Meerbrey, Michael E; Kalich, Allan G; Rodrigue, Karen M

2015-07-01

The BDNF val66met polymorphism (rs6265) influences activity-dependent secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the synapse, which is crucial for learning and memory. Individuals homozygous or heterozygous for the met allele have lower BDNF secretion than val homozygotes and may be at risk for reduced declarative memory performance, but it remains unclear which types of declarative memory may be affected and how aging of memory across the lifespan is impacted by the BDNF val66met polymorphism. This cross-sectional study investigated the effects of BDNF polymorphism on multiple indices of memory (item, associative, prospective, subjective complaints) in a lifespan sample of 116 healthy adults aged 20-93 years. Advancing age showed a negative effect on item, associative and prospective memory, but not on subjective memory complaints. For item and prospective memory, there were significant age×BDNF group interactions, indicating the adverse effect of age on memory performance across the lifespan was much stronger in the BDNF met carriers than for the val homozygotes. BDNF met carriers also endorsed significantly greater subjective memory complaints, regardless of age, and showed a trend (pmemory performance compared to val homozygotes. These results suggest that genetic predisposition to the availability of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, by way of the BDNF val66met polymorphism, exerts an influence on multiple indices of episodic memory - in some cases in all individuals regardless of age (subjective memory and perhaps associative memory), in others as an exacerbation of age-related differences in memory across the lifespan (item and prospective memory). This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Memory & Aging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aging memory for pictures: using high-density event-related potentials to understand the effect of aging on the picture superiority effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Ally, Brandon A; Waring, Jill D; Beth, Ellen H; McKeever, Joshua D; Milberg, William P; Budson, Andrew E

2008-01-31

High-density event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to understand the effect of aging on the neural correlates of the picture superiority effect. Pictures and words were systematically varied at study and test while ERPs were recorded at retrieval. Here, the results of the word-word and picture-picture study-test conditions are presented. Behavioral results showed that older adults demonstrated the picture superiority effect to a greater extent than younger adults. The ERP data helped to explain these findings. The early frontal effect, parietal effect, and late frontal effect were all indistinguishable between older and younger adults for pictures. In contrast, for words, the early frontal and parietal effects were significantly diminished for the older adults compared to the younger adults. These two old/new effects have been linked to familiarity and recollection, respectively, and the authors speculate that these processes are impaired for word-based memory in the course of healthy aging. The findings of this study suggest that pictures allow older adults to compensate for their impaired memorial processes, and may allow these memorial components to function more effectively in older adults.

Lost for words or loss of memories? Autobiographical memory in semantic dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Moss, H E; Kopelman, M D; Cappelletti, M; Davies, P de Mornay; Jaldow, E

2003-12-01

Recent reports have suggested that patients with semantic dementia show a loss of early (remote) auto-biographical memories with pronounced sparing of recent memories (Graham & Hodges, 1997; Snowden, Griffiths, & Neary, 1996), i.e., a 'reversed' temporal gradient or 'Ribot effect'. At first sight, these findings suggest that the deficits in 'semantic' dementia go beyond the semantic domain, involving aspects of autobiographical (episodic) memory. It has also been proposed that there is a 'step-like' function with personal memories preserved for 18 months to 2 years in the immediate past. This view is consistent with the theory that the hippocampal complex/medial temporal lobe (relatively intact in semantic dementia) plays a time-limited role in the acquisition and storage of memories, while the temporal neocortex (damaged in semantic dementia) is required for long-term storage and retrieval. In this study we ask whether (a) previous tests have underestimated the integrity of remote memory in semantic dementia as a result of not allowing for these patients' comprehension and language production difficulties, and (b) whether a recency effect, if obtained, is genuinely step-like or more graded. We used a cued autobiographical memory interview with semantic dementia patient, IH, to examine the effect of providing increasingly specific lexical cues to probe salient events throughout his lifespan. Results demonstrated that the provision of specific cues enabled IH to access and express memories from his childhood and early adulthood as well as from more recent times. There was a gentle recency effect only for intermediate levels of cueing, indicating that recent memories were easier to retrieve and/or express in the absence of specific cues, but this effect was graded, with no evidence of a step-like cut-off at 18 months or 2 years before testing. In brief, our findings are consistent with the view that the deficits in semantic dementia are predominantly or exclusively

[Artificial intelligence meeting neuropsychology. Semantic memory in normal and pathological aging].

Science.gov (United States)

Aimé, Xavier; Charlet, Jean; Maillet, Didier; Belin, Catherine

2015-03-01

Artificial intelligence (IA) is the subject of much research, but also many fantasies. It aims to reproduce human intelligence in its learning capacity, knowledge storage and computation. In 2014, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started the restoring active memory (RAM) program that attempt to develop implantable technology to bridge gaps in the injured brain and restore normal memory function to people with memory loss caused by injury or disease. In another IA's field, computational ontologies (a formal and shared conceptualization) try to model knowledge in order to represent a structured and unambiguous meaning of the concepts of a target domain. The aim of these structures is to ensure a consensual understanding of their meaning and a univariant use (the same concept is used by all to categorize the same individuals). The first representations of knowledge in the AI's domain are largely based on model tests of semantic memory. This one, as a component of long-term memory is the memory of words, ideas, concepts. It is the only declarative memory system that resists so remarkably to the effects of age. In contrast, non-specific cognitive changes may decrease the performance of elderly in various events and instead report difficulties of access to semantic representations that affect the semantics stock itself. Some dementias, like semantic dementia and Alzheimer's disease, are linked to alteration of semantic memory. We propose in this paper, using the computational ontologies model, a formal and relatively thin modeling, in the service of neuropsychology: 1) for the practitioner with decision support systems, 2) for the patient as cognitive prosthesis outsourced, and 3) for the researcher to study semantic memory.

Midlife stress alters memory and mood-related behaviors in old age: Role of locally activated glucocorticoids.

Science.gov (United States)

Wheelan, Nicola; Kenyon, Christopher J; Harris, Anjanette P; Cairns, Carolynn; Al Dujaili, Emad; Seckl, Jonathan R; Yau, Joyce L W

2018-03-01

Chronic exposure to stress during midlife associates with subsequent age-related cognitive decline and may increase the vulnerability to develop psychiatric conditions. Increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity has been implicated in pathogenesis though any causative role for glucocorticoids is unestablished. This study investigated the contribution of local glucocorticoid regeneration by the intracellular enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), in persisting midlife stress-induced behavioral effects in mice. Middle-aged (10 months old) 11β-HSD1-deficient mice and wild-type congenic controls were randomly assigned to 28 days of chronic unpredictable stress or left undisturbed (non-stressed). All mice underwent behavioral testing at the end of the stress/non-stress period and again 6-7 months later. Chronic stress impaired spatial memory in middle-aged wild-type mice. The effects, involving a wide spectrum of behavioral modalities, persisted for 6-7 months after cessation of stress into early senescence. Enduring effects after midlife stress included impaired spatial memory, enhanced contextual fear memory, impaired fear extinction, heightened anxiety, depressive-like behavior, as well as reduced hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor mRNA expression. In contrast, 11β-HSD1 deficient mice resisted both immediate and enduring effects of chronic stress, despite similar stress-induced increases in systemic glucocorticoid activity during midlife stress. In conclusion, chronic stress in midlife exerts persisting effects leading to cognitive and affective dysfunction in old age via mechanisms that depend, at least in part, on brain glucocorticoids generated locally by 11β-HSD1. This finding supports selective 11β-HSD1 inhibition as a novel therapeutic target to ameliorate the long-term consequences of stress-related psychiatric disorders in midlife. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Age-related differences in cortical activity during a visuo-spatial working memory task with facial stimuli.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flávia Schechtman Belham

Full Text Available Emotion, importantly displayed by facial expressions, is one of the most significant memory modulators. The interaction between memory and the different emotional valences change across lifespan, while young adults (YA are expected to better recall negative events (Negativity Bias Hypothesis, older adults (OA tend to focus on positive stimuli (Positivity Effect Hypothesis. This research work aims at verifying whether cortical electrical activity of these two age groups would also be differently influenced by emotional valences in a visuo-spatial working memory task. 27 YA (13 males and 25 OA (14 males, all healthy volunteers, underwent electroencephalographic recordings (21 scalp electrodes montage, while performing the Spatial Delayed Recognition Span Task using a touch screen with different stimuli categories: neutral, positive and negative faces and geometric pictures. YA obtained higher scores than OA, and showed higher activation of theta and alpha bands in the frontal and midline regions, besides a more evident right-hemispheric asymmetry on alpha band when compared to OA. For both age groups, performance in the task was worse for positive faces than to negative and to neutral faces. Facial stimuli induced a better performance and higher alpha activation on the pre-frontal region for YA, and on the midline, occipital and left temporal regions for OA when compared to geometric figures. The superior performance of YA was expected due to the natural cognitive deficits connected to ageing, as was a better performance with facial stimuli due to the evolutionary importance of faces. These results were related to cortical activity on areas of importance for action-planning, decision making and sustained attention. Taken together, they are in accordance with the Negativity Bias but do not support the Positivity Effect. The methodology used was able to identify age-related differences in cortical activity during emotional mnemonic processing and

The Role of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 in the Progression of Age-Related Hearing Loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lourdes Rodríguez-de la Rosa

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Aging is associated with impairment of sensorial functions and with the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. As pari passu circulating insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1 bioavailability progressively decreases, we see a direct correlation with sensory impairment and cognitive performance in older humans. Age-related sensory loss is typically caused by the irreversible death of highly differentiated neurons and sensory receptor cells. Among sensory deficits, age-related hearing loss (ARHL, also named presbycusis, affects one third of the population over 65 years of age and is a major factor in the progression of cognitive problems in the elderly. The genetic and molecular bases of ARHL are largely unknown and only a few genes related to susceptibility to oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, and cell death have been identified. IGF-1 is known to be a neuroprotective agent that maintains cellular metabolism, activates growth, proliferation and differentiation, and limits cell death. Inborn IGF-1 deficiency leads to profound sensorineural hearing loss both in humans and mice. IGF-1 haploinsufficiency has also been shown to correlate with ARHL. There is not much information available on the effect of IGF-1 deficiency on other human sensory systems, but experimental models show a long-term impact on the retina. A secondary action of IGF-1 is the control of oxidative stress and inflammation, thus helping to resolve damage situations, acute or made chronic by aging. Here we will review the primary actions of IGF-1 in the auditory system and the underlying molecular mechanisms.

The Effect of Spatial Working Memory Deterioration on Strategic Visuomotor Learning across Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Uresti-Cabrera, Luis A; Diaz, Rosalinda; Vaca-Palomares, Israel; Fernandez-Ruiz, Juan

2015-01-01

To evaluate the effect of age-related cognitive changes in a visuomotor learning task that depends on strategic control and contrast it with the effect in a task principally depending on visuomotor recalibration. Participants performed a ball throwing task while donning either a reversing dove prism or a displacement wedge prism, which mainly depend on strategic control or visuomotor recalibration, respectively. Visuomotor performance was then analysed in relation to rule acquisition and reversal, recognition memory, visual memory, spatial planning, and spatial working memory with tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). The results confirmed previous works showing a detrimental effect of age on visuomotor learning. The analyses of the cognitive changes observed across age showed that both strategic control and visuomotor recalibration had significant negative correlations only with the number of errors in the spatial working memory task. However, when the effect of aging was controlled, the only significant correlation remaining was between the reversal adaptation magnitude and spatial working memory. These results suggest that spatial working memory decline across aging could contribute to age-dependent deterioration in both visuomotor learning processes. However, spatial working memory integrity seems to affect strategic learning decline even after controlling for aging.

The Effect of Spatial Working Memory Deterioration on Strategic Visuomotor Learning across Aging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis A. Uresti-Cabrera

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. To evaluate the effect of age-related cognitive changes in a visuomotor learning task that depends on strategic control and contrast it with the effect in a task principally depending on visuomotor recalibration. Methods. Participants performed a ball throwing task while donning either a reversing dove prism or a displacement wedge prism, which mainly depend on strategic control or visuomotor recalibration, respectively. Visuomotor performance was then analysed in relation to rule acquisition and reversal, recognition memory, visual memory, spatial planning, and spatial working memory with tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB. Results. The results confirmed previous works showing a detrimental effect of age on visuomotor learning. The analyses of the cognitive changes observed across age showed that both strategic control and visuomotor recalibration had significant negative correlations only with the number of errors in the spatial working memory task. However, when the effect of aging was controlled, the only significant correlation remaining was between the reversal adaptation magnitude and spatial working memory. Discussion. These results suggest that spatial working memory decline across aging could contribute to age-dependent deterioration in both visuomotor learning processes. However, spatial working memory integrity seems to affect strategic learning decline even after controlling for aging.

Protective effects of cultured and fermented ginseng extracts against scopolamine-induced memory loss in a mouse model.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Song-Hee; Kim, Sung-June; Yun, Young Won; Nam, Sang Yoon; Lee, Hu-Jang; Lee, Beom-Jun

2018-03-01

This study was performed to investigate the effect of a concentrate of fermented wild ginseng root culture (HLJG0701) on memory improvement in the scopolamine (SPL)-induced memory-deficient mouse model. Eight-week-old male ICR mice were used to evaluate the protective effect of HLJG0701 against the SPL-induced memory loss animal model. The Morris water maze test, which measures hippocampus-dependent learning ability, and the Y-maze test, a short-term memory assessment test, were performed and related markers were analyzed. HLJG0701-treated groups displayed significantly reduced acetylcholinesterase activity and increased acetylcholine level compared with the SPL-administered group (SPL-G) ( P memory loss by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity and preventing acetylcholine deficiency.

Tart cherries improve working memory in aged rats

Science.gov (United States)

Aged rats show impaired performance on cognitive tasks that require the use of spatial learning and memory. In previous studies, we have shown the beneficial effects of various dark-colored berry fruits (blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries) in reversing age-related deficits in behavioral and...

Preservation of musical memory and engagement in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuddy, Lola L; Sikka, Ritu; Vanstone, Ashley

2015-03-01

In striking contrast to the difficulties with new learning and episodic memories in aging and especially in Alzheimer's disease (AD), musical long-term memories appear to be largely preserved. Evidence for spared musical memories in aging and AD is reviewed here. New data involve the development of a Musical Engagement Questionnaire especially designed for use with AD patients. The questionnaire assesses behavioral responses to music and is answered by the care partner. Current results show that, despite cognitive loss, persons with mild to moderate AD preserve musical engagement and music seeking. Familiar music evokes personal autobiographical memories for healthy younger and older adults as well and for those with mild to moderate AD. It is argued that music is a prime candidate for being a stimulus for cognitive stimulation because musical memories and associated emotions may be readily evoked; that is, they are strong and do not need to be repaired. Working with and through music as a resource may enhance social and communication functions. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

The relationship between loss of parents in the holocaust, intrusive memories, and distress among child survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Letzter-Pouw, Sonia; Werner, Perla

2012-04-01

The prevalence of intrusive memories of the Holocaust and their relationship to distress was examined among 272 child survivors in Israel. Using attachment theory as a conceptual framework, the authors also examined the effects of type of experience and loss of parents in the Holocaust, psychological resources, other life events, and sociodemographic characteristics on distress and symptomatic behavior. Eighty five percent of the participants reported suffering from intrusive memories. Structural equation modeling showed that survivors who lost one or both parents in the Holocaust suffered more distress because of more intrusive memories. These findings suggest that intrusive memories may be part of unfinished mourning processes related to the loss of parents in the Holocaust. © 2012 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

Aging Memory Is "Not" a Limiting Factor for Lifelong Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Lalovic, Dejan; Gvozdenovic, Vasilije

2015-01-01

Efficient memory is one of the necessary cognitive potentials required for virtually every form of lifelong learning. In this contribution we first briefly review and summarize state of the art of knowledge on memory and related cognitive functions in normal aging. Then we critically discuss a relatively short inventory of clinical, psychometric,…

Age differences in autobiographical memory across the adult lifespan: older adults report stronger phenomenology.

Science.gov (United States)

Luchetti, Martina; Sutin, Angelina R

2018-01-01

As an individual's life story evolves across adulthood, the subjective experience (phenomenology) of autobiographical memory likely changes. In addition to age at retrieval, both the recency of the memory and the age when a memory is formed may be particularly important to its phenomenology. The present work examines the effect of three temporal factors on phenomenology ratings: (a) age of the participant, (b) age at the event reported in the memory, and (c) memory age (recency). A large sample of Americans (N = 1120), stratified by chronological age, recalled and rated two meaningful memories, a Turning Point and an Early Childhood Memory. Ratings of phenomenology (e.g., vividness of turning points) were higher among older adults compared to younger adults. Memories of events from the reminiscence bump were more positive in valence than events from other time periods but did not differ on other phenomenological dimensions; recent memories had stronger phenomenology than remote memories. In contrast to phenomenology, narrative content was generally unrelated to participant age, age at the event, or memory age. Overall, the findings indicate age-related differences in how meaningful memories are re-experienced.

The association between APOE genotype and memory dysfunction in subjects with mild cognitive impairment is related to age and Alzheimer pathology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ramakers, I.H.G.B.; Visser, P.J.; Aalten, P.; Bekers, O.; Sleegers, K.; van Broeckhoven, C.L.; Jolles, J.; Verhey, F. R. J.

2008-01-01

Background: Memory problems are a main feature of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and may be related to the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele. We investigated whether the effect of the APOE genotype on memory in subjects with MCI was dependent on age and underlying Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology.

Habitual caffeine consumption and its relation to memory, attention, planning capacity and psychomotor performance across multiple age groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Hameleers, P. A. H. M; Van Boxtel, M. P. J; Hogervorst, E; Riedel, W. J; Houx, P. J; Buntinx, F; Jolles, J

2000-12-01

The present study evaluated the association between habitual caffeine intake via coffee and tea and cognitive performance. This was done as part of a larger research programme into the determinants of cognitive ageing (the Maastricht Aging Study: MAAS). Possible withdrawal effects that may have explained in part the positive association between performance and intake in an earlier study were controlled for. In addition, all cognitive tests in this study were administered under strict laboratory conditions. A group of 1875 healthy adults, stratified for age (range 24 - 81 years), sex, and general ability, were screened for habitual intake of coffee and tea and took part in extensive cognitive testing. Multiple regression analysis with control for age, sex, socio-demographic variables, and substance use showed that habitual caffeine consumption was significantly related to better long-term memory performance and faster locomotor speed. No relationships were found between habitual caffeine consumption and short-term memory, information processing, planning, and attention as measured with the Stroop Test. Moreover, no difference in sensitivity to caffeine intake between different age groups was found, suggesting that caffeine intake did not counteract age-related cognitive decline. Several recommendations are made to improve the design of future studies in this field. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Olfactory memory in the old and very old: relations to episodic and semantic memory and APOE genotype.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsson, Maria; Hedner, Margareta; Papenberg, Goran; Seubert, Janina; Bäckman, Lars; Laukka, Erika J

2016-02-01

The neuroanatomical organization that underlies olfactory memory is different from that of other memory types. The present work examines olfactory memory in an elderly population-based sample (Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen) aged 60-100 years (n = 2280). We used structural equation modeling to investigate whether olfactory memory in old age is best conceptualized as a distinct category, differentiated from episodic and semantic memory. Further, potential olfactory dedifferentiation and genetic associations (APOE) to olfactory function in late senescence were investigated. Results are in support of a 3-factor solution where olfactory memory, as indexed by episodic odor recognition and odor identification, is modeled separately from episodic and semantic memory for visual and verbal information. Increasing age was associated with poorer olfactory memory performance, and observed age-related deficits were further exacerbated for carriers of the APOE ε4 allele; these effects tended to be larger for olfactory memory compared to episodic and semantic memory pertaining to other sensory systems (vision, auditory). Finally, stronger correlations between olfactory and episodic memory, indicating dedifferentiation, were observed in the older age groups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age-Related Differences on Cognitive Overload in an Audio-Visual Memory Task

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Jennifer; Thomson, Mary E.

2011-01-01

The present study aimed to provide evidence outlining whether the type of stimuli used in teaching would provoke differing levels of recall across three different academic age groups. One hundred and twenty-one participants, aged 11-25 years, were given a language-based memory task in the form of a wordlist consisting of 15 concrete and 15…

Temporal binding function of dorsal CA1 is critical for declarative memory formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sellami, Azza; Al Abed, Alice Shaam; Brayda-Bruno, Laurent; Etchamendy, Nicole; Valério, Stéphane; Oulé, Marie; Pantaléon, Laura; Lamothe, Valérie; Potier, Mylène; Bernard, Katy; Jabourian, Maritza; Herry, Cyril; Mons, Nicole; Piazza, Pier-Vincenzo; Eichenbaum, Howard; Marighetto, Aline

2017-09-19

Temporal binding, the process that enables association between discontiguous stimuli in memory, and relational organization, a process that enables the flexibility of declarative memories, are both hippocampus-dependent and decline in aging. However, how these two processes are related in supporting declarative memory formation and how they are compromised in age-related memory loss remain hypothetical. We here identify a causal link between these two features of declarative memory: Temporal binding is a necessary condition for the relational organization of discontiguous events. We demonstrate that the formation of a relational memory is limited by the capability of temporal binding, which depends on dorsal (d)CA1 activity over time intervals and diminishes in aging. Conversely, relational representation is successful even in aged individuals when the demand on temporal binding is minimized, showing that relational/declarative memory per se is not impaired in aging. Thus, bridging temporal intervals by dCA1 activity is a critical foundation of relational representation, and a deterioration of this mechanism is responsible for the age-associated memory impairment.

Age differences in implicit memory: more apparent than real.

Science.gov (United States)

Russo, R; Parkin, A J

1993-01-01

Elderly subjects and a group of young subjects identified fragmented picture sequences under conditions of focused attention. Two other groups of young subjects carried out this task under divided-attention conditions. Implicit memory, as measured by item-specific savings, was found in all groups, but this effect was smaller in the elderly group. The young subjects, but not elderly subjects, performed better on new items. The divided-attention conditions equated recall and recognition by the young and the elderly, but only the young subjects showed greater savings for recalled items. The elderly subjects' reduced implicit memory therefore stemmed from their inability to facilitate implicit memory with explicit memory. A second experiment, involving only young subjects tested after delay, produced findings similar to those for the young divided-attention subjects. Implicit memory, as measured by savings in picture completion, does not show an age-related change when the role of explicit memory is considered. Age does, however, reduce skill learning.

Subjective memory complaint only relates to verbal episodic memory performance in mild cognitive impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gifford, Katherine A; Liu, Dandan; Damon, Stephen M; Chapman, William G; Romano Iii, Raymond R; Samuels, Lauren R; Lu, Zengqi; Jefferson, Angela L

2015-01-01

A cognitive concern from the patient, informant, or clinician is required for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI); however, the cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of complaint are poorly understood. We assessed how self-complaint relates to cognitive and neuroimaging measures in older adults with MCI. MCI participants were drawn from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and dichotomized into two groups based on the presence of self-reported memory complaint (no complaint n = 191, 77 ± 7 years; complaint n = 206, 73 ± 8 years). Cognitive outcomes included episodic memory, executive functioning, information processing speed, and language. Imaging outcomes included regional lobar volumes (frontal, parietal, temporal, cingulate) and specific medial temporal lobe structures (hippocampal volume, entorhinal cortex thickness, parahippocampal gyrus thickness). Linear regressions, adjusting for age, gender, race, education, Mini-Mental State Examination score, mood, and apolipoprotein E4 status, found that cognitive complaint related to immediate (β = -1.07, p memory performances assessed on a serial list learning task (β = -1.06, p = 0.001) but no other cognitive measures or neuroimaging markers. Self-reported memory concern was unrelated to structural neuroimaging markers of atrophy and measures of information processing speed, executive functioning, or language. In contrast, subjective memory complaint related to objective verbal episodic learning performance. Future research is warranted to better understand the relation between cognitive complaint and surrogate markers of abnormal brain aging, including Alzheimer's disease, across the cognitive aging spectrum.

Age-related reduction of the confidence-accuracy relationship in episodic memory: effects of recollection quality and retrieval monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Jessica T; Cramer, Stefanie J; Gallo, David A

2012-12-01

We investigated age-related reductions in episodic metamemory accuracy. Participants studied pictures and words in different colors and then took forced-choice recollection tests. These tests required recollection of the earlier presentation color, holding familiarity of the response options constant. Metamemory accuracy was assessed for each participant by comparing recollection test accuracy with corresponding confidence judgments. We found that recollection test accuracy was greater in younger than older adults and also for pictures than font color. Metamemory accuracy tracked each of these recollection differences, as well as individual differences in recollection test accuracy within each age group, suggesting that recollection ability affects metamemory accuracy. Critically, the age-related impairment in metamemory accuracy persisted even when the groups were matched on recollection test accuracy, suggesting that metamemory declines were not entirely due to differences in recollection frequency or quantity, but that differences in recollection quality and/or monitoring also played a role. We also found that age-related impairments in recollection and metamemory accuracy were equivalent for pictures and font colors. This result contrasted with previous false recognition findings, which predicted that older adults would be differentially impaired when monitoring memory for less distinctive memories. These and other results suggest that age-related reductions in metamemory accuracy are not entirely attributable to false recognition effects, but also depend heavily on deficient recollection and/or monitoring of specific details associated with studied stimuli. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Aging affects the interaction between attentional control and source memory: an fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Dulas, Michael R; Duarte, Audrey

2014-12-01

Age-related source memory impairments may be due, at least in part, to deficits in executive processes mediated by the PFC at both study and test. Behavioral work suggests that providing environmental support at encoding, such as directing attention toward item-source associations, may improve source memory and reduce age-related deficits in the recruitment of these executive processes. The present fMRI study investigated the effects of directed attention and aging on source memory encoding and retrieval. At study, participants were shown pictures of objects. They were either asked to attend to the objects and their color (source) or to their size. At test, participants determined if objects were seen before, and if so, whether they were the same color as previously. Behavioral results showed that direction of attention improved source memory for both groups; however, age-related deficits persisted. fMRI results revealed that, across groups, direction of attention facilitated medial temporal lobe-mediated contextual binding processes during study and attenuated right PFC postretrieval monitoring effects at test. However, persistent age-related source memory deficits may be related to increased recruitment of medial anterior PFC during encoding, indicative of self-referential processing, as well as underrecruitment of lateral anterior PFC-mediated relational processes. Taken together, this study suggests that, even when supported, older adults may fail to selectively encode goal-relevant contextual details supporting source memory performance.

The Role of Aging in Intra-Item and Item-Context Binding Processes in Visual Working Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Dwight J.; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe

2016-01-01

Aging is accompanied by declines in both working memory and long-term episodic memory processes. Specifically, important age-related memory deficits are characterized by performance impairments exhibited by older relative to younger adults when binding distinct components into a single integrated representation, despite relatively intact memory…

Representational Account of Memory: Insights from Aging and Synesthesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeifer, Gaby; Ward, Jamie; Chan, Dennis; Sigala, Natasha

2016-12-01

The representational account of memory envisages perception and memory to be on a continuum rather than in discretely divided brain systems [Bussey, T. J., & Saksida, L. M. Memory, perception, and the ventral visual-perirhinal-hippocampal stream: Thinking outside of the boxes. Hippocampus, 17, 898-908, 2007]. We tested this account using a novel between-group design with young grapheme-color synesthetes, older adults, and young controls. We investigated how the disparate sensory-perceptual abilities between these groups translated into associative memory performance for visual stimuli that do not induce synesthesia. ROI analyses of the entire ventral visual stream showed that associative retrieval (a pair-associate retrieved in the absence of a visual stimulus) yielded enhanced activity in young and older adults' visual regions relative to synesthetes, whereas associative recognition (deciding whether a visual stimulus was the correct pair-associate) was characterized by enhanced activity in synesthetes' visual regions relative to older adults. Whole-brain analyses at associative retrieval revealed an effect of age in early visual cortex, with older adults showing enhanced activity relative to synesthetes and young adults. At associative recognition, the group effect was reversed: Synesthetes showed significantly enhanced activity relative to young and older adults in early visual regions. The inverted group effects observed between retrieval and recognition indicate that reduced sensitivity in visual cortex (as in aging) comes with increased activity during top-down retrieval and decreased activity during bottom-up recognition, whereas enhanced sensitivity (as in synesthesia) shows the opposite pattern. Our results provide novel evidence for the direct contribution of perceptual mechanisms to visual associative memory based on the examples of synesthesia and aging.

Age differences and schema effects in memory for crime information.

Science.gov (United States)

Overman, Amy A; Wiseman, Kimberly D; Allison, Meredith; Stephens, Joseph D W

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: This study investigated age-related differences in memory for crime information. Older adults have been found to rely more than young adults on schema- and stereotype-based processing in memory, and such age differences may have implications in the criminal justice system. Some prior research has examined schema-based processing among older adults in legal settings, but no studies have tested for schema effects on older adults' memory for specific details of a crime. Older adults (N = 56, ages 65-93) and young adults (N = 52, ages 18-22) read a passage about a criminal suspect's "bad" or "good" childhood, and then read a crime report containing incriminating, exonerating, and neutral details with regard to the suspect. Participants were subsequently tested on recognition of accurate versus altered details from the crime report. Participants also rated the suspect"s guilt, and completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. Correct and false recognition rates were analyzed with ANOVA to compare means across age group, evidence type, and background type, and guilt ratings were analyzed with linear regression using neuropsychological scores as predictors. Among older adults, an interaction was found between evidence type (incriminating/exonerating) and suspect's background (good/bad childhood) in false recognition of altered details from the crime report, supporting the hypothesis that schema-based processing influenced older adult memory from crime information. Additionally, although guilt ratings were not related to the suspect's background for either age group, they were predicted by older adults' short-delay recall (β = -.37), suggesting that cognitive decline may play a role in older adults' interpretations of evidence. The findings suggest reduced cognitive capacity in older adults increases schema-based processing in memory for crime information, and are consistent with research in other domains that has demonstrated greater schema

Food memory and its relation with age and liking: an incidental learning experiment with children, young and elderly people.

Science.gov (United States)

Laureati, M; Morin-Audebrand, L; Pagliarini, E; Sulmont-Rossé, C; Köster, E P; Mojet, J

2008-09-01

The present study compared incidental learning and food memory in children, young adults and elderly people for three sensory modalities (taste, texture and aroma). The relation of gender and liker-status (i.e. how much we like a product) with food memory was also investigated. Participants received a complete meal including a custard dessert used as target under incidental learning conditions. 24h later, participants were confronted with a series of samples consisting of the target and slightly modified versions of the target (distractors) and were unexpectedly asked to perform an "absolute memory" ("Did you eat this sample yesterday?") and a "relative memory" test ("Is the present sample less/equal/more pleasant than the one you ate yesterday?"). Participants also performed a hedonic and a discrimination test. Memory for the custard was poor and did not depend on age, but it was related to gender, and to how much participants liked the product. Females and high-likers outperformed males and low-likers in the absolute memory task, but they were not better in discriminating the products on both the hedonic and the perceptual dimension. Results also showed that, contrary to common belief, not all sensory aspects that can be discriminated in perception and in liking, are equally well remembered.

Systemic Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Transplantation Prevents Functional Bone Loss in a Mouse Model of Age-Related Osteoporosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiernan, Jeffrey; Hu, Sally; Grynpas, Marc D; Davies, John E; Stanford, William L

2016-05-01

Age-related osteoporosis is driven by defects in the tissue-resident mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), a heterogeneous population of musculoskeletal progenitors that includes skeletal stem cells. MSC decline leads to reduced bone formation, causing loss of bone volume and the breakdown of bony microarchitecture crucial to trabecular strength. Furthermore, the low-turnover state precipitated by MSC loss leads to low-quality bone that is unable to perform remodeling-mediated maintenance--replacing old damaged bone with new healthy tissue. Using minimally expanded exogenous MSCs injected systemically into a mouse model of human age-related osteoporosis, we show long-term engraftment and markedly increased bone formation. This led to improved bone quality and turnover and, importantly, sustained microarchitectural competence. These data establish proof of concept that MSC transplantation may be used to prevent or treat human age-related osteoporosis. This study shows that a single dose of minimally expanded mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) injected systemically into a mouse model of human age-related osteoporosis display long-term engraftment and prevent the decline in bone formation, bone quality, and microarchitectural competence. This work adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the decline of MSCs associated with age-related osteoporosis is a major transformative event in the progression of the disease. Furthermore, it establishes proof of concept that MSC transplantation may be a viable therapeutic strategy to treat or prevent human age-related osteoporosis. ©AlphaMed Press.

Study the Age of Hearing Loss Diagnosis and the Related Factors in a Group of School-Age Children in Baghch-e-Ban School of Hard of Hearing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahnaz Ahmadi

1996-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Estimation of the age of hearing loss diagnosis in every society is recommended to be compared with standard criteria to establish common dirth in management and rehabilitation. This study was conducted in order to determine the age of hearing loss diagnosis with respect to common criteria in Baghche-Ban school of hard of hearing children in Tehran.Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 445 children in stages 2, 6 and 10 of Baghche-Ban school of hard of hearing participated. the research was performed by means of the three-stages questionaires that children filled with help of their parents.Results: The mean age of detection of hearing loss in both acquired and congenital hearing loss in children was 3.5 year-old. while the age in which hearing loss was doubted was 1.8 year-old. In another word the mean age of hearing loss detection decreased as the hearing loss increases(in moderate- profound hearing loss(P<0.01. Conclusion: among the refrence sources for refering children with hearing loss the least refering was related to physicians. Adversly the mean age of doubting and detection of hearing loss increased in children with family history of hearing loss.(P<0.01. Meanwhile no relationship was detected between the age of diagnosis of hearing loss and the number of deaf members in the family(P<0.02.

The Cognitive Aging of Episodic Memory: A View Based On The Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David eFriedman

2013-08-01

Full Text Available A cardinal feature of older-adult cognition is a decline, relative to the young, in the encoding and retrieval of personally-relevant events, i.e. episodic memory (EM. A consensus holds that familiarity, a relatively automatic feeling of knowing that can support recognition-memory judgments, is preserved with aging. By contrast, recollection, which requires the effortful, strategic recovery of contextual detail, declines as we age. Over the last decade, ERPs have become increasingly important tools in the study of the aging of EM, because a few, well-researched EM effects have been associated with the cognitive processes thought to underlie successful EM performance. EM effects are operationalized by subtracting the ERPs elicited by correctly-rejected, new items from those to correctly recognized, old items. Although highly controversial, the mid-frontal effect (a positive component between ~300 and 500 ms, maximal at fronto-central scalp sites is thought to reflect familiarity-based recognition. A positivity between ~500 and 800 ms, maximal at left-parietal scalp, has been labeled the left-parietal EM effect. A wealth of evidence suggests that this brain activity reflects recollection-based retrieval. Here, I review the ERP evidence in support of the hypothesis that familiarity is maintained while recollection is compromised in older relative to young adults. I consider the possibility that the inconsistency in findings may be due to individual differences in performance, executive function and quality of life indices, such as socio-economic status.

Current concepts in age-related hearing loss: Epidemiology and mechanistic pathways

Science.gov (United States)

Yamasoba, Tatsuya; Lin, Frank R.; Someya, Shinichi; Kashio, Akinori; Sakamoto, Takashi; Kondo, Kenji

2013-01-01

Age-related hearing loss (AHL), also known as presbycusis, is a universal feature of mammalian aging and is characterized by a decline of auditory function, such as increased hearing thresholds and poor frequency resolution. The primary pathology of AHL includes the hair cells, stria vascularis, and afferent spiral ganglion neurons as well as the central auditory pathways. A growing body of evidence in animal studies has suggested that cumulative effect of oxidative stress could induce damage to macromolecules such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and that the resulting accumulation of mtDNA mutations/deletions and decline of mitochondrial function play an important role in inducing apoptosis of the cochlear cells, thereby the development of AHL. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated four categories of risk factors of AHL in humans: cochlear aging, environment such as noise exposure, genetic predisposition, and health co-morbidities such as cigarette smoking and atherosclerosis. Genetic investigation has identified several putative associating genes, including those related to antioxidant defense and atherosclerosis. Exposure to noise is known to induce excess generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cochlea, and cumulative oxidative stress can be enhanced by relatively hypoxic situations resulting from the impaired homeostasis of cochlear blood supply due to atherosclerosis, which could be accelerated by genetic and co-morbidity factors. Antioxidant defense system may also be influenced by genetic backgrounds. These may explain the large variations of the onset and extent of AHL among elderly subjects. PMID:23422312

Destination memory and cognitive theory of mind in normal ageing.

Science.gov (United States)

El Haj, Mohamad; Raffard, Stéphane; Gély-Nargeot, Marie-Christine

2016-01-01

Destination memory is the ability to remember the destination to which a piece of information has been addressed (e.g., "Did I tell you about the promotion?"). This ability is found to be impaired in normal ageing. Our work aimed to link this deterioration to the decline in theory of mind. Forty younger adults (M age = 23.13 years, SD = 4.00) and 36 older adults (M age = 69.53 years, SD = 8.93) performed a destination memory task. They also performed the False-belief test addressing cognitive theory of mind and the Reading the mind in the eyes test addressing affective theory of mind. Results showed significant deterioration in destination memory, cognitive theory of mind and affective theory of mind in the older adults. The older adults' performance on destination memory was significantly correlated with and predicted by their performance on cognitive theory of mind. Difficulties in the ability to interpret and predict others' mental states are related to destination memory decline in older adults.

Structural whole-brain covariance of the anterior and posterior hippocampus: Associations with age and memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordin, Kristin; Persson, Jonas; Stening, Eva; Herlitz, Agneta; Larsson, Elna-Marie; Söderlund, Hedvig

2018-02-01

The hippocampus (HC) interacts with distributed brain regions to support memory and shows significant volume reductions in aging, but little is known about age effects on hippocampal whole-brain structural covariance. It is also unclear whether the anterior and posterior HC show similar or distinct patterns of whole-brain covariance and to what extent these are related to memory functions organized along the hippocampal longitudinal axis. Using the multivariate approach partial least squares, we assessed structural whole-brain covariance of the HC in addition to regional volume, in young, middle-aged and older adults (n = 221), and assessed associations with episodic and spatial memory. Based on findings of sex differences in both memory and brain aging, we further considered sex as a potential modulating factor of age effects. There were two main covariance patterns: one capturing common anterior and posterior covariance, and one differentiating the two regions by capturing anterior-specific covariance only. These patterns were differentially related to associative memory while unrelated to measures of single-item memory and spatial memory. Although patterns were qualitatively comparable across age groups, participants' expression of both patterns decreased with age, independently of sex. The results suggest that the organization of hippocampal structural whole-brain covariance remains stable across age, but that the integrity of these networks decreases as the brain undergoes age-related alterations. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Knowledge Loss: A Defensive Model In Nuclear Research Organization Memory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohamad Safuan Bin Sulaiman; Muhd Noor Muhd Yunus

2013-01-01

Knowledge is an essential part of research based organization. It should be properly managed to ensure that any pitfalls of knowledge retention due to knowledge loss of both tacit and explicit is mitigated. Audit of the knowledge entities exist in the organization is important to identify the size of critical knowledge. It is very much related to how much know-what, know-how and know-why experts exist in the organization. This study conceptually proposed a defensive model for Nuclear Malaysia's organization memory and application of Knowledge Loss Risk Assessment (KLRA) as an important tool for critical knowledge identification. (author)

Memory, verbal fluency, and response inhibition in normal aging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaurav Thapliyal

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The concepts of aging-related cognitive changes have appeared to be a major challenge in the society. In this context, the present study was planned to find out the functioning of aging population on different neurocognitive measures. Aims: The aim of the study was to find out the neurocognitive functioning, namely memory, verbal fluency, and response inhibition of normal aging population. Materials and Methods: Following purposive sampling technique, a total of 50 healthy subjects (30 males and 20 females in the age range of 60-70 years were recruited from Jaipur city of Rajasthan. Mini-mental state Examination, PGI memory scale, animal names test, and Stroop test were administered. Results: The findings reveal dysfunction in almost all the domains of memory, namely mental balance, attention and concentration, delayed recall, verbal retention for dissimilar pairs, visual retention and recognition, immediate recall, verbal retention for similar pairs, and visual retention. In domain of verbal fluency, all subjects gave low responses on the animal names test. In domain of response inhibition, all the subjects took less time in color test as compared to color word test on the Stroop task. Conclusions: Findings suggest that there are dysfunction in the area of memory, verbal fluency, and response inhibition in persons aged 60-70 years. However, recent and remote memory were found to be intact.

Human aging reduces the neurobehavioral influence of motivation on episodic memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Geddes, Maiya R; Mattfeld, Aaron T; Angeles, Carlo de Los; Keshavan, Anisha; Gabrieli, John D E

2018-05-01

The neural circuitry mediating the influence of motivation on long-term declarative or episodic memory formation is delineated in young adults, but its status is unknown in healthy aging. We examined the effect of reward and punishment anticipation on intentional declarative memory formation for words using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) monetary incentive encoding task in twenty-one younger and nineteen older adults. At 24-hour memory retrieval testing, younger adults were significantly more likely to remember words associated with motivational cues than neutral cues. Motivational enhancement of memory in younger adults occurred only for recollection ("remember" responses) and not for familiarity ("familiar" responses). Older adults had overall diminished memory and did not show memory gains in association with motivational cues. Memory encoding associated with monetary rewards or punishments activated motivational (substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area) and memory-related (hippocampus) brain regions in younger, but not older, adults during the target word periods. In contrast, older and younger adults showed similar activation of these brain regions during the anticipatory motivational cue interval. In a separate monetary incentive delay task that did not require learning, we found evidence for relatively preserved striatal reward anticipation in older adults. This supports a potential dissociation between incidental and intentional motivational processes in healthy aging. The finding that motivation to obtain rewards and avoid punishments had reduced behavioral and neural influence on intentional episodic memory formation in older compared to younger adults is relevant to life-span theories of cognitive aging including the dopaminergic vulnerability hypothesis. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Eliminating Age Differences in Children's and Adults' Suggestibility and Memory Conformity Effects

Science.gov (United States)

Otgaar, Henry; Howe, Mark L.; Brackmann, Nathalie; van Helvoort, Daniël H. J.

2017-01-01

We examined whether typical developmental trends in suggestion-induced false memories (i.e., age-related decrease) could be changed. Using theoretical principles from the spontaneous false memory field, we adapted 2 often-used false memory procedures: misinformation (Experiment 1) and memory conformity (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 7- to…

A loss in the family: silence, memory, and narrative identity after bereavement.

Science.gov (United States)

Baddeley, Jenna; Singer, Jefferson A

2010-02-01

Grief theories have converged on the idea that the sharing of autobiographical memory narratives of loss and of the deceased person, especially within the family, is a major way to maintain and/or reconfigure a healthy sense of identity after a loss. In contrast, we examine unspoken memory-the withholding of socially sharing autobiographical memories about the loss and the departed family member-as a way to either conserve an existing narrative identity or assert a new narrative identity. Depending on its context and function, silence about memory can play either a positive or negative role in an individual griever's ongoing narrative identity, as well as in the larger family narrative in which the griever's identity is embedded.

Productivity loss at work; Health-related and work-related factors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, S.G. van den; Geuskens, G.A.; Hooftman, W.E.; Koppes, L.L.J.; Bossche, S.N.J. van den

2010-01-01

Introduction Productivity loss is an increasing problem in an aging working population that is decreasing in numbers. The aim of this study is to identify work-related and health-related characteristics associated with productivity loss, due to either sickness absence or reduced performance at work.

Spatial-Sequential Working Memory in Younger and Older Adults: Age Predicts Backward Recall Performance within Both Age Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Louise A.

2016-01-01

Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18–40 years) and older (64–85 years) adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1998). Across both age groups, the effects of interference (control, visual, or spatial), and recall type (forward and backward), were investigated. There was a clear effect of age group, with younger adults demonstrating a larger spatial working memory capacity than the older adults overall. There was also a specific effect of interference, with the spatial interference task (spatial tapping) reliably reducing performance relative to both the control and visual interference (dynamic visual noise) conditions in both age groups and both recall types. This suggests that younger and older adults have similar dependence upon active spatial rehearsal, and that both forward and backward recall require this processing capacity. Linear regression analyses were then carried out within each age group, to assess the predictors of performance in each recall format (forward and backward). Specifically the backward recall task was significantly predicted by age, within both the younger and older adult groups. This finding supports previous literature showing lifespan linear declines in spatial-sequential working memory, and in working memory tasks from other domains, but contrasts with previous evidence that backward spatial span is no more sensitive to aging than forward span. The study suggests that backward spatial span is indeed more processing-intensive than forward span, even when both tasks include a retention period, and that age predicts

Spatial-sequential working memory in younger and older adults: age predicts backward recall performance within both age groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louise A. Brown

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18-40 years and older (64-85 years adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1998. Across both age groups, the effects of interference (control, visual, or spatial, and recall type (forward and backward, were investigated. There was a clear effect of age group, with younger adults demonstrating a larger spatial working memory capacity than the older adults overall. There was also a specific effect of interference, with the spatial interference task (spatial tapping reliably reducing performance relative to both the control and visual interference (dynamic visual noise conditions in both age groups and both recall types. This suggests that younger and older adults have similar dependence upon active spatial rehearsal, and that both forward and backward recall require this processing capacity. Linear regression analyses were then carried out within each age group, to assess the predictors of performance in each recall format (forward and backward. Specifically the backward recall task was significantly predicted by age, within both the younger and older adult groups. This finding supports previous literature showing lifespan linear declines in spatial-sequential working memory, and in working memory tasks from other domains, but contrasts with previous evidence that backward spatial span is no more sensitive to aging than forward span. The study suggests that backward spatial span is indeed more processing-intensive than forward span, even when both tasks include a retention period, and that age

Spatial-Sequential Working Memory in Younger and Older Adults: Age Predicts Backward Recall Performance within Both Age Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Louise A

2016-01-01

Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18-40 years) and older (64-85 years) adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale - Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1998). Across both age groups, the effects of interference (control, visual, or spatial), and recall type (forward and backward), were investigated. There was a clear effect of age group, with younger adults demonstrating a larger spatial working memory capacity than the older adults overall. There was also a specific effect of interference, with the spatial interference task (spatial tapping) reliably reducing performance relative to both the control and visual interference (dynamic visual noise) conditions in both age groups and both recall types. This suggests that younger and older adults have similar dependence upon active spatial rehearsal, and that both forward and backward recall require this processing capacity. Linear regression analyses were then carried out within each age group, to assess the predictors of performance in each recall format (forward and backward). Specifically the backward recall task was significantly predicted by age, within both the younger and older adult groups. This finding supports previous literature showing lifespan linear declines in spatial-sequential working memory, and in working memory tasks from other domains, but contrasts with previous evidence that backward spatial span is no more sensitive to aging than forward span. The study suggests that backward spatial span is indeed more processing-intensive than forward span, even when both tasks include a retention period, and that age predicts

The influence of age, hearing, and working memory on the speech comprehension benefit derived from an automatic speech recognition system.

Science.gov (United States)

Zekveld, Adriana A; Kramer, Sophia E; Kessens, Judith M; Vlaming, Marcel S M G; Houtgast, Tammo

2009-04-01

from the subtitles. Speech comprehension improved even for relatively low ASR accuracy levels; for example, participants obtained about 2 dB SNR audiovisual benefit for ASR accuracies around 74%. Delaying the presentation of the text reduced the benefit and increased the listening effort. Participants with relatively low unimodal speech comprehension obtained greater benefit from the subtitles than participants with better unimodal speech comprehension. We observed an age-related decline in the working-memory capacity of the listeners with normal hearing. A higher age and a lower working memory capacity were associated with increased effort required to use the subtitles to improve speech comprehension. Participants were able to use partly incorrect and delayed subtitles to increase their comprehension of speech in noise, regardless of age and hearing loss. This supports the further development and evaluation of an assistive listening system that displays automatically recognized speech to aid speech comprehension by listeners with hearing impairment.

Influence of aging on the neural correlates of autobiographical, episodic, and semantic memory retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

St-Laurent, Marie; Abdi, Hervé; Burianová, Hana; Grady, Cheryl L

2011-12-01

We used fMRI to assess the neural correlates of autobiographical, semantic, and episodic memory retrieval in healthy young and older adults. Participants were tested with an event-related paradigm in which retrieval demand was the only factor varying between trials. A spatio-temporal partial least square analysis was conducted to identify the main patterns of activity characterizing the groups across conditions. We identified brain regions activated by all three memory conditions relative to a control condition. This pattern was expressed equally in both age groups and replicated previous findings obtained in a separate group of younger adults. We also identified regions whose activity differentiated among the different memory conditions. These patterns of differentiation were expressed less strongly in the older adults than in the young adults, a finding that was further confirmed by a barycentric discriminant analysis. This analysis showed an age-related dedifferentiation in autobiographical and episodic memory tasks but not in the semantic memory task or the control condition. These findings suggest that the activation of a common memory retrieval network is maintained with age, whereas the specific aspects of brain activity that differ with memory content are more vulnerable and less selectively engaged in older adults. Our results provide a potential neural mechanism for the well-known age differences in episodic/autobiographical memory, and preserved semantic memory, observed when older adults are compared with younger adults.

A comparative study of age-related hearing loss in wild type and insulin-like growth factor I deficient mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raquel Riquelme

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I belongs to the family of insulin-related peptides that fulfils a key role during the late development of the nervous system. Human IGF1 mutations cause profound deafness, poor growth and mental retardation. Accordingly, Igf1−/− null mice are dwarfs that have low survival rates, cochlear alterations and severe sensorineural deafness. Presbycusis (age-related hearing loss is a common disorder associated with aging that causes social and cognitive problems. Aging is also associated with a decrease in circulating IGF-I levels and this reduction has been related to cognitive and brain alterations, although there is no information as yet regarding the relationship between presbycusis and IGF-I biodisponibility. Here we present a longitudinal study of wild type Igf1+/+ and null Igf1−/− mice from 2 to 12 months of age comparing the temporal progression of several parameters: hearing, brain morphology, cochlear cytoarchitecture, insulin-related factors and IGF gene expression and IGF-I serum levels. Complementary invasive and non-invasive techniques were used, including auditory brainstem-evoked response (ABR recordings and in vivo MRI brain imaging. Igf1−/− null mice presented profound deafness at all the ages studied, without any obvious worsening of hearing parameters with aging. Igf1+/+ wild type mice suffered significant age-related hearing loss, their auditory thresholds and peak I latencies augmenting as they aged, in parallel with a decrease in the circulating levels of IGF-I. Accordingly, there was an age-related spiral ganglion degeneration in wild type mice that was not evident in the Igf1 null mice. However, the Igf1−/− null mice in turn developed a prematurely aged stria vascularis reminiscent of the diabetic strial phenotype. Our data indicate that IGF-I is required for the correct development and maintenance of hearing, supporting the idea that IGF-I-based therapies could contribute to

The effect of caffeine on working memory load-­related brain activation in middle-­aged males

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaassen, Elissa; De Groot, Renate; Evers, Lisbeth; Snel, Jan; Veerman, Enno; Ligtenberg, Antoon; Jolles, Jelle; Veltman, Dick

2012-01-01

Klaassen, E. B., De Groot, R. H. M., Evers, E. A. T., Snel, J., Veerman, E. C. I., Ligtenberg, A. J. M., Jolles, J., & Veltman, D. J. (2013). The effect of caffeine on working memory load-related brain activation in middle-aged male. Neuropharmacology, 64, 160-167.

Age-related loss of early grasp affordance when viewing a safety handle

OpenAIRE

McDannald, Doug

2018-01-01

Age-related loss of early grasp affordance when viewing a safety handle Author: D.W. McDannald1, , M. Mansour2, G. Rydalch3, D.A.E. Bolton1 Mere observation of objects in our surroundings can potentiate movement, a fact reflected by visually-primed activation of motor cortical networks. This mechanism holds potential value for reactive balance control where recovery actions of the arms or legs must be targeted to a new support base to avoid a fall. The present study was conducted to test if t...

Experience-based attenuation of age-related differences in music cognition tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Meinz, E J

2000-06-01

Pianists of a wide experience and age range were tested on measures of musical memory and musical perceptual speed to better understand the effects of experience on age-cognition relations. Experience-related attenuation might be in the form of an Age x Experience interaction or in the form of a "confounding" of age and experience such that positive age-experience relations offset negative age-cognition relations. It was predicted that the former, considered evidence for disuse interpretations of aging, would be likely to emerge in tasks with strong experience effects and strong age-related declines among inexperienced individuals. However, in no case were the interactions of age and experience on the memory or perceptual speed variables significant. There was, however, evidence that high levels of experience in the older participants partially attenuated the negative effects of age on the memory and perceptual speed tasks.

Aging and long-term memory for emotionally valenced events.

Science.gov (United States)

Breslin, Carolyn W; Safer, Martin A

2013-06-01

In 2008, 1103 ardent Boston Red Sox fans answered questions about their team's 2003 loss and 2004 win in baseball championship games with archrival New York Yankees. Contrary to predictions based on socioemotional selectivity theory, there were no significant interactions of age and event valence for accuracy in remembering event details, or for self-reported subjective vividness and rehearsal of the memories. Fans 65 years and older tended to remember feeling only sad about the 2003 loss, whereas fans 25 years and under tended to remember feeling both sad and angry. Individuals may remember emotional feelings based on remembered goals about an event. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Aging and memory as discrimination: Influences of encoding specificity, cue overload, and prior knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Badham, Stephen P; Poirier, Marie; Gandhi, Navina; Hadjivassiliou, Anna; Maylor, Elizabeth A

2016-11-01

From the perspective of memory-as-discrimination, whether a cue leads to correct retrieval simultaneously depends on the cue's relationship to (a) the memory target and (b) the other retrieval candidates. A corollary of the view is that increasing encoding-retrieval match may only help memory if it improves the cue's capacity to discriminate the target from competitors. Here, age differences in this discrimination process were assessed by manipulating the overlap between cues present at encoding and retrieval orthogonally with cue-target distinctiveness. In Experiment 1, associative memory differences for cue-target sets between young and older adults were minimized through training and retrieval efficiency was assessed through response time. In Experiment 2, age-group differences in associative memory were left to vary and retrieval efficiency was assessed through accuracy. Both experiments showed age-invariance in memory-as-discrimination: cues increasing encoding-retrieval match did not benefit memory unless they also improved discrimination between the target and competitors. Predictions based on the age-related associative deficit were also supported: prior knowledge alleviated age-related associative deficits (Experiment 1), and increasing encoding-retrieval match benefited older more than young adults (Experiment 2). We suggest that the latter occurred because older adults' associative memory deficits reduced the impact of competing retrieval candidates-hence the age-related benefit was not attributable to encoding-retrieval match per se, but rather it was a joint function of an increased probability of the cue connecting to the target combined with a decrease in competing retrieval candidates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Aging and Memory as Discrimination: Influences of Encoding Specificity, Cue Overload, and Prior Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

From the perspective of memory-as-discrimination, whether a cue leads to correct retrieval simultaneously depends on the cue’s relationship to (a) the memory target and (b) the other retrieval candidates. A corollary of the view is that increasing encoding-retrieval match may only help memory if it improves the cue’s capacity to discriminate the target from competitors. Here, age differences in this discrimination process were assessed by manipulating the overlap between cues present at encoding and retrieval orthogonally with cue–target distinctiveness. In Experiment 1, associative memory differences for cue–target sets between young and older adults were minimized through training and retrieval efficiency was assessed through response time. In Experiment 2, age-group differences in associative memory were left to vary and retrieval efficiency was assessed through accuracy. Both experiments showed age-invariance in memory-as-discrimination: cues increasing encoding-retrieval match did not benefit memory unless they also improved discrimination between the target and competitors. Predictions based on the age-related associative deficit were also supported: prior knowledge alleviated age-related associative deficits (Experiment 1), and increasing encoding-retrieval match benefited older more than young adults (Experiment 2). We suggest that the latter occurred because older adults’ associative memory deficits reduced the impact of competing retrieval candidates—hence the age-related benefit was not attributable to encoding-retrieval match per se, but rather it was a joint function of an increased probability of the cue connecting to the target combined with a decrease in competing retrieval candidates. PMID:27831714

Memory Monitoring and Control in Young and Intermediate-Age Adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxciel Zortea

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The way adults perceive and regulate learning (metamemory is an important indicator of how they perform on memory tasks. This study assessed memory monitoring, control and performance in young and intermediate-age adults according to item type (with or without semantic relation, type of judgment of learning (JOL - immediate or delayed, and age. Twenty-six young adults (M = 22 years old and 18 intermediate-age adults (M = 47 years old participated, who responded to an experimental paradigm to evaluate metamemory. Results showed that related word-pairs received higher magnitude for the JOLs and better cued-recall scores. JOLs’ accuracy was similar between the age groups, delayed JOLs being more accurate only for young adults. Intermediate-age adults apparently based their allocation of study time less on JOLs or cued-recall than young adults.

Role of kinin B1 and B2 receptors in memory consolidation during the aging process of mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemos, Mayra Tolentino Resk; Amaral, Fabio Agostini; Dong, Karis Ester; Bittencourt, Maria Fernanda Queiroz Prado; Caetano, Ariadiny Lima; Pesquero, João Bosco; Viel, Tania Araujo; Buck, Hudson Sousa

2010-04-01

Under physiological conditions, elderly people present memory deficit associated with neuronal loss. This pattern is also associated with Alzheimer's disease but, in this case, in a dramatically intensified level. Kinin receptors have been involved in neurodegeneration and increase of amyloid-beta concentration, associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Considering these findings, this work evaluated the role of kinin receptors in memory consolidation during the aging process. Male C57Bl/6 (wt), knock-out B1 (koB1) or B2 (koB2) mice (3, 6, 12 and 18-month-old - mo; n=10 per group) were submitted to an acquisition session, reinforcement to learning (24h later: test 1) and final test (7days later: test 2), in an active avoidance apparatus, to evaluate memory. Conditioned avoidance responses (CAR, % of 50 trials) were registered. In acquisition sessions, similar CAR were obtained among age matched animals from all strains. However, a significant decrease in CAR was observed throughout the aging process (3mo: 8.8+/-2.3%; 6mo: 4.1+/-0.6%; 12mo: 2.2+/-0.6%, 18mo: 3.6+/-0.6%, Pprocess. In test 1, as expected, memory retention increased significantly (Pmemory retention. In test 2, 3- and 6-month-old wt and koB1 mice of all ages showed a significant improvement in memory (Pmemory retention. We suggest that, during the aging process, the B1 receptor could be involved in neurodegeneration and memory loss. Nevertheless, the B2 receptor is apparently acting as a neuroprotective factor. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of aging on cerebral oxygenation during working-memory performance: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vermeij, A.; van Beek, A.H.; Olde Rikkert, M.G.M.; Claassen, J.A.H.R.; Kessels, R.P.C.

2012-01-01

Working memory is sensitive to aging-related decline. Evidence exists that aging is accompanied by a reorganization of the working-memory circuitry, but the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are unclear. In this study, we examined aging-related changes in prefrontal activation during

Effects of Aging on Cerebral Oxygenation during Working-Memory Performance: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vermeij, A.; Beek, H.E.A. van; Olde Rikkert, M.G.M.; Kessels, R.P.C.

2012-01-01

Working memory is sensitive to aging-related decline. Evidence exists that aging is accompanied by a reorganization of the working-memory circuitry, but the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are unclear. In this study, we examined aging-related changes in prefrontal activation during

Age differences in perceptions of memory strategy effectiveness for recent and remote memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Lineweaver, Tara T; Horhota, Michelle; Crumley, Jessica; Geanon, Catherine T; Juett, Jacqueline J

2018-03-01

We examined whether young and older adults hold different beliefs about the effectiveness of memory strategies for specific types of memory tasks and whether memory strategies are perceived to be differentially effective for young, middle-aged, and older targets. Participants rated the effectiveness of five memory strategies for 10 memory tasks at three target ages (20, 50, and 80 years old). Older adults did not strongly differentiate strategy effectiveness, viewing most strategies as similarly effective across memory tasks. Young adults held strategy-specific beliefs, endorsing external aids and physical health as more effective than a positive attitude or internal strategies, without substantial differentiation based on task. We also found differences in anticipated strategy effectiveness for targets of different ages. Older adults described cognitive and physical health strategies as more effective for older than middle-aged targets, whereas young adults expected these strategies to be equally effective for middle-aged and older target adults.

Subjective memory complaint only relates to verbal episodic memory performance in mild cognitive impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Gifford, Katherine A.; Liu, Dandan; Damon, Stephen M.; Chapman, William G.; Romano, Raymond R.; Samuels, Lauren R.; Lu, Zengqi; Jefferson, Angela L.

2015-01-01

Background A cognitive concern from the patient, informant, or clinician is required for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI); however, the cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of complaint are poorly understood. Objective We assessed how self-complaint relates to cognitive and neuroimaging measures in older adults with MCI. Method MCI participants were drawn from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and dichotomized into two groups based on the presence of self-reported memory complaint (no complaint n=191, 77±7 years; complaint n=206, 73±8 years). Cognitive outcomes included episodic memory, executive functioning, information processing speed, and language. Imaging outcomes included regional lobar volumes (frontal, parietal, temporal, cingulate) and specific medial temporal lobe structures (hippocampal volume, entorhinal cortex thickness, parahippocampal gyrus thickness). Results Linear regressions, adjusting for age, gender, race, education, Mini-Mental State Examination score, mood, and apolipoprotein E-4 status, found that cognitive complaint related to immediate (β=−1.07, pmemory performances assessed on a serial list learning task (β=−1.06, p=0.001) but no other cognitive measures or neuroimaging markers. Conclusions Self-reported memory concern was unrelated to structural neuroimaging markers of atrophy and measures of information processing speed, executive functioning, or language. In contrast, subjective memory complaint related to objective verbal episodic learning performance. Future research is warranted to better understand the relation between cognitive complaint and surrogate markers of abnormal brain aging, including Alzheimer’s disease, across the cognitive aging spectrum. PMID:25281602

Attention and memory evaluation across the life span: heterogeneous effects of age and education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-Pérez, Esther; Ostrosky-Solís, Feggy

2006-05-01

The developmental sequences of attention and memory were studied by utilizing normative data derived from the neuropsychological battery named NEUROPSI ATTENTION AND MEMORY. A sample of 521 Spanish-speaking individuals, aged 6 to 85 years, participated in this study. In the adult sample, educational level ranged from 0 to 22 years of education. Data from subtests measuring orientation, attention and concentration, executive functions, working memory, immediate and delayed verbal memory, and immediate and delayed visual memory were included. The factor structure of the analyzed battery is presented. The effects of age and education on this structure were analyzed. Results suggested that although attention and memory are related, their developmental sequences are separated from one another. During childhood, the development of selective and sustained attention, attentional-working memory, and executive functions showed a fast improvement in performance. Development of verbal memory and place and person orientation showed a slower increment in scores. In the adult sample it was found that factors related to memory are sensitive to age, whereas those related to attention and executive functions are sensitive to education. The consideration of both the developmental sequence, as well as differential effects of education, can improve the sensitivity and specificity of neuropsychological measures, allowing early diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction and implementation of adequate rehabilitation programs.

Speech Recognition in Adults With Cochlear Implants: The Effects of Working Memory, Phonological Sensitivity, and Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Moberly, Aaron C; Harris, Michael S; Boyce, Lauren; Nittrouer, Susan

2017-04-14

Models of speech recognition suggest that "top-down" linguistic and cognitive functions, such as use of phonotactic constraints and working memory, facilitate recognition under conditions of degradation, such as in noise. The question addressed in this study was what happens to these functions when a listener who has experienced years of hearing loss obtains a cochlear implant. Thirty adults with cochlear implants and 30 age-matched controls with age-normal hearing underwent testing of verbal working memory using digit span and serial recall of words. Phonological capacities were assessed using a lexical decision task and nonword repetition. Recognition of words in sentences in speech-shaped noise was measured. Implant users had only slightly poorer working memory accuracy than did controls and only on serial recall of words; however, phonological sensitivity was highly impaired. Working memory did not facilitate speech recognition in noise for either group. Phonological sensitivity predicted sentence recognition for implant users but not for listeners with normal hearing. Clinical speech recognition outcomes for adult implant users relate to the ability of these users to process phonological information. Results suggest that phonological capacities may serve as potential clinical targets through rehabilitative training. Such novel interventions may be particularly helpful for older adult implant users.

Olfactory memory: a bridge between humans and animals in models of cognitive aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichenbaum, Howard; Robitsek, R Jonathan

2009-07-01

Odor-recognition memory in rodents may provide a valuable model of cognitive aging. In a recent study we used signal detection analyses to distinguish odor recognition based on recollection versus that based on familiarity. Aged rats were selectively impaired in recollection, with relative sparing of familiarity, and the deficits in recollection were correlated with spatial memory impairments. These results complement electrophysiological findings indicating age-associated deficits in the ability of hippocampal neurons to differentiate contextual information, and this information-processing impairment may underlie the common age-associated decline in olfactory and spatial memory.

Developmental trajectories for attention and working memory in healthy Japanese school-aged children.

Science.gov (United States)

Egami, Chiyomi; Yamashita, Yushiro; Tada, Yasuhiro; Anai, Chiduru; Mukasa, Akiko; Yuge, Kotaro; Nagamitsu, Shinichiro; Matsuishi, Toyojiro

2015-10-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the developmental trajectories of attention, short-term memory, and working memory in school-aged children using a 10 min test battery of cognitive function. Participants comprised 144 typically developing children (TDC) aged 7-12 years and 24 healthy adults, divided according to age into seven groups (12 males and 12 females for each age group). Participants were assessed using CogHealth, which is a computer-based measure composed of five tasks. We measured attention, short-term memory, and working memory (WM) with visual stimulation. Each task was analyzed for age-related differences in reaction time and accuracy rate. Attention tasks were faster in stages from the age of 7-10 years. Accuracy rate of short-term memory gradually increased from 12 years of age and suddenly increased and continued to increase at 22 years of age. Accuracy rate of working memory increased until 12 years of age. Correlations were found between the ages and reaction time, and between ages and accuracy rate of the tasks. These results indicate that there were rapid improvements in attention, short-term memory, and WM performance between 7 and 10 years of age followed by gradual improvement until 12 years of age. Increase in short-term memory continued until 22 years of age. In our experience CogHealth was an easy and useful measure for the evaluation of cognitive function in school-age children. Copyright © 2015 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Taste learning and memory: a window to the study of brain aging.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando eGámiz

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Taste learning exhibits advantages for research on memory brain systems and its reorganization along the life. A review of the effects of aging on taste memory abilities offers a complex picture showing preserved, impaired and enhanced functions. Some of the age-related changes in taste memory seem to be associated with an altered temporal processing. Longer taste-illness delays can be introduced for acquisition of conditioned taste aversions and the modulation of taste learning by the temporal context is absent in naïve aged rats. Evidence is presented suggesting that hippocampal-dependent taste memory can be reactivated by previous learning experiences in old rats. As long as temporary hipocampal inactivation might represent a better model than permanent damage of the aged hippocampus, reversion inactivation of the dorsal Hippocampus by tetrotodoxin (TTX has been applied in aged rats. Results are reported indicating the need of taking into account the interactions between the previous experiences and acute brain intervention when applying taste learning and memory tasks at advanced ages.

Increased Working Memory-Related Brain Activity in Middle-Aged Women with Cognitive Complaints

OpenAIRE

Dumas, Julie A.; Kutz, Amanda M.; McDonald, Brenna C.; R.Naylor, Magdalena; Pfaff, Ashley C.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Newhouse, Paul A.

2012-01-01

Individuals who report subjective cognitive complaints but perform normally on neuropsychological tests may be at increased risk for pathological cognitive aging. The current study examined the effects of the presence of subjective cognitive complaints on functional brain activity during a working memory task in a sample of middle-aged postmenopausal women. Twenty-three postmenopausal women aged 50–60 completed a cognitive complaint battery of questionnaires. Using 20% of items endorsed as th...

Loss of renal function causes premature aging of the immune system.

Science.gov (United States)

Betjes, Michiel G H; Meijers, Ruud W J; Litjens, Nicolle H R

2013-01-01

Uremia-associated immune deficiency is a well-known complication of loss of renal function and contributes significantly to the overall mortality and morbidity of patients with end-stage renal disease. Chronic inflammation and increased oxidative stress are underlying the uremia-associated immune deficiency. In this review, the differential impact of uremia on the cellular immune system is summarized. Virtually all immune cells studied show a combination of an activated status and loss of function. However, uremia preferentially decreases the number and function of lymphoid cells while myeloid cells show normal and/or elevated cell numbers with increased production of inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species. These particular changes are compatible with immunological aging, which is characterized by loss of thymic function, attrition of telomeres and an expanded memory T cell population. Similar to aging in healthy individuals, the proinflammatory and potential cardiotoxic subsets of CD28(null) T cells and CD16(+) monocytes are increased. Epigenetically changed hematopoietic stem cells may be involved in immunological aging as specific DNA regions become hypermethylated. Proinflammatory T cells and monocytes persist after kidney transplantation, which constitutes a persistent cardiovascular risk factor. Possible therapeutic options to reverse or halt uremia-associated immunological aging are discussed. Premature aging of the immune system is a dominant feature in patients with end-stage renal failure, which corresponds to immunological aging in elderly healthy individuals, which is characterized by preferential loss of cells belonging to the lymphoid cell lineage, inflammation and expansion of proinflammatory immune cells. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Stereotype threat can both enhance and impair older adults' memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-12-01

Negative stereotypes about aging can impair older adults' memory via stereotype threat; however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unclear. In two experiments, we tested competing predictions derived from two theoretical accounts of stereotype threat: executive-control interference and regulatory fit. Older adults completed a working memory test either under stereotype threat about age-related memory declines or not under such threat. Monetary incentives were manipulated such that recall led to gains or forgetting led to losses. The executive-control-interference account predicts that stereotype threat decreases the availability of executive-control resources and hence should impair working memory performance. The regulatory-fit account predicts that threat induces a prevention focus, which should impair performance when gains are emphasized but improve performance when losses are emphasized. Results were consistent only with the regulatory-fit account. Although stereotype threat significantly impaired older adults' working memory performance when remembering led to gains, it significantly improved performance when forgetting led to losses.

Word Memory Test Predicts Recovery in Claimants With Work-Related Head Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Colangelo, Annette; Abada, Abigail; Haws, Calvin; Park, Joanne; Niemeläinen, Riikka; Gross, Douglas P

2016-05-01

To investigate the predictive validity of the Word Memory Test (WMT), a verbal memory neuropsychological test developed as a performance validity measure to assess memory, effort, and performance consistency. Cohort study with 1-year follow-up. Workers' compensation rehabilitation facility. Participants included workers' compensation claimants with work-related head injury (N=188; mean age, 44y; 161 men [85.6%]). Not applicable. Outcome measures for determining predictive validity included days to suspension of wage replacement benefits during the 1-year follow-up and work status at discharge in claimants undergoing rehabilitation. Analysis included multivariable Cox and logistic regression. Better WMT performance was significantly but weakly correlated with younger age (r=-.30), documented brain abnormality (r=.28), and loss of consciousness at the time of injury (r=.25). Claimants with documented brain abnormalities on diagnostic imaging scans performed better (∼9%) on the WMT than those without brain abnormalities. The WMT predicted days receiving benefits (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.24) and work status outcome at program discharge (adjusted odds ratio, 1.62; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-2.34). Our results provide evidence for the predictive validity of the WMT in workers' compensation claimants. Younger claimants and those with more severe brain injuries performed better on the WMT. It may be that financial incentives or other factors related to the compensation claim affected the performance. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Similarity-based interference in a working memory numerical updating task: age-related differences between younger and older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Pelegrina, Santiago; Borella, Erika; Carretti, Barbara; Lechuga, M Teresa

2012-01-01

Similarity among representations held simultaneously in working memory (WM) is a factor which increases interference and hinders performance. The aim of the current study was to investigate age-related differences between younger and older adults in a working memory numerical updating task, in which the similarity between information held in WM was manipulated. Results showed a higher susceptibility of older adults to similarity-based interference when accuracy, and not response times, was considered. It was concluded that older adults' WM difficulties appear to be due to the availability of stored information, which, in turn, might be related to the ability to generate distinctive representations and to the process of binding such representations to their context when similar information has to be processed in WM.

Dopamine Receptor Genes Modulate Associative Memory in Old Age.

Science.gov (United States)

Papenberg, Goran; Becker, Nina; Ferencz, Beata; Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe; Laukka, Erika J; Bäckman, Lars; Brehmer, Yvonne

2017-02-01

Previous research shows that associative memory declines more than item memory in aging. Although the underlying mechanisms of this selective impairment remain poorly understood, animal and human data suggest that dopaminergic modulation may be particularly relevant for associative binding. We investigated the influence of dopamine (DA) receptor genes on item and associative memory in a population-based sample of older adults (n = 525, aged 60 years), assessed with a face-scene item associative memory task. The effects of single-nucleotide polymorphisms of DA D1 (DRD1; rs4532), D2 (DRD2/ANKK1/Taq1A; rs1800497), and D3 (DRD3/Ser9Gly; rs6280) receptor genes were examined and combined into a single genetic score. Individuals carrying more beneficial alleles, presumably associated with higher DA receptor efficacy (DRD1 C allele; DRD2 A2 allele; DRD3 T allele), performed better on associative memory than persons with less beneficial genotypes. There were no effects of these genes on item memory or other cognitive measures, such as working memory, executive functioning, fluency, and perceptual speed, indicating a selective association between DA genes and associative memory. By contrast, genetic risk for Alzheimer disease (AD) was associated with worse item and associative memory, indicating adverse effects of APOE ε4 and a genetic risk score for AD (PICALM, BIN1, CLU) on episodic memory in general. Taken together, our results suggest that DA may be particularly important for associative memory, whereas AD-related genetic variations may influence overall episodic memory in older adults without dementia.

Age-related striatal BOLD changes without changes in behavioral loss aversion

Science.gov (United States)

Viswanathan, Vijay; Lee, Sang; Gilman, Jodi M.; Kim, Byoung Woo; Lee, Nick; Chamberlain, Laura; Livengood, Sherri L.; Raman, Kalyan; Lee, Myung Joo; Kuster, Jake; Stern, Daniel B.; Calder, Bobby; Mulhern, Frank J.; Blood, Anne J.; Breiter, Hans C.

2015-01-01

Loss aversion (LA), the idea that negative valuations have a higher psychological impact than positive ones, is considered an important variable in consumer research. The literature on aging and behavior suggests older individuals may show more LA, although it is not clear if this is an effect of aging in general (as in the continuum from age 20 and 50 years), or of the state of older age (e.g., past age 65 years). We also have not yet identified the potential biological effects of aging on the neural processing of LA. In the current study we used a cohort of subjects with a 30 year range of ages, and performed whole brain functional MRI (fMRI) to examine the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc) response during a passive viewing of affective faces with model-based fMRI analysis incorporating behavioral data from a validated approach/avoidance task with the same stimuli. Our a priori focus on the VS/NAc was based on (1) the VS/NAc being a central region for reward/aversion processing; (2) its activation to both positive and negative stimuli; (3) its reported involvement with tracking LA. LA from approach/avoidance to affective faces showed excellent fidelity to published measures of LA. Imaging results were then compared to the behavioral measure of LA using the same affective faces. Although there was no relationship between age and LA, we observed increasing neural differential sensitivity (NDS) of the VS/NAc to avoidance responses (negative valuations) relative to approach responses (positive valuations) with increasing age. These findings suggest that a central region for reward/aversion processing changes with age, and may require more activation to produce the same LA behavior as in younger individuals, consistent with the idea of neural efficiency observed with high IQ individuals showing less brain activation to complete the same task. PMID:25983682

Age-related striatal BOLD changes without changes in behavioral loss aversion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hans C Breiter

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Loss aversion (LA, the idea that negative valuations have a higher psychological impact than positive ones, is considered an important variable in consumer research. The literature on aging and behavior suggests older individuals may show more LA, although it is not clear if this is an effect of aging in general (as in the continuum from age 20 and 50 years, or of the state of older age (e.g., past age 65 years. We also have not yet identified the potential biological effects of aging on the neural processing of LA. In the current study we used a cohort of subjects with a 30 year range of ages, and performed whole brain functional MRI (fMRI to examine the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc response during a passive viewing of affective faces with model-based fMRI analysis incorporating behavioral data from a validated approach/avoidance task with the same stimuli. Our a priori focus on the VS/NAc was based on (1 the VS/NAc being a central region for reward/aversion processing, (2 its activation to both positive and negative stimuli, (3 its reported involvement with tracking LA. LA from approach/avoidance to affective faces showed excellent fidelity to published measures of LA. Imaging results were then compared to the behavioral measure of LA using the same affective faces. Although there was no relationship between age and LA, we observed increasing neural differential sensitivity (NDS of the VS/NAc to avoidance responses (negative valuations relative to approach responses (positive valuations with increasing age. These findings suggest that a central region for reward/aversion processing changes with age, and may require more activation to produce the same LA behavior as in younger individuals, consistent with the idea of neural efficiency observed with high IQ individuals showing less brain activation to complete the same task.

Age-related striatal BOLD changes without changes in behavioral loss aversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Viswanathan, Vijay; Lee, Sang; Gilman, Jodi M; Kim, Byoung Woo; Lee, Nick; Chamberlain, Laura; Livengood, Sherri L; Raman, Kalyan; Lee, Myung Joo; Kuster, Jake; Stern, Daniel B; Calder, Bobby; Mulhern, Frank J; Blood, Anne J; Breiter, Hans C

2015-01-01

Loss aversion (LA), the idea that negative valuations have a higher psychological impact than positive ones, is considered an important variable in consumer research. The literature on aging and behavior suggests older individuals may show more LA, although it is not clear if this is an effect of aging in general (as in the continuum from age 20 and 50 years), or of the state of older age (e.g., past age 65 years). We also have not yet identified the potential biological effects of aging on the neural processing of LA. In the current study we used a cohort of subjects with a 30 year range of ages, and performed whole brain functional MRI (fMRI) to examine the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc) response during a passive viewing of affective faces with model-based fMRI analysis incorporating behavioral data from a validated approach/avoidance task with the same stimuli. Our a priori focus on the VS/NAc was based on (1) the VS/NAc being a central region for reward/aversion processing; (2) its activation to both positive and negative stimuli; (3) its reported involvement with tracking LA. LA from approach/avoidance to affective faces showed excellent fidelity to published measures of LA. Imaging results were then compared to the behavioral measure of LA using the same affective faces. Although there was no relationship between age and LA, we observed increasing neural differential sensitivity (NDS) of the VS/NAc to avoidance responses (negative valuations) relative to approach responses (positive valuations) with increasing age. These findings suggest that a central region for reward/aversion processing changes with age, and may require more activation to produce the same LA behavior as in younger individuals, consistent with the idea of neural efficiency observed with high IQ individuals showing less brain activation to complete the same task.

Experience and information loss in auditory and visual memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Gloede, Michele E; Paulauskas, Emily E; Gregg, Melissa K

2017-07-01

Recent studies show that recognition memory for sounds is inferior to memory for pictures. Four experiments were conducted to examine the nature of auditory and visual memory. Experiments 1-3 were conducted to evaluate the role of experience in auditory and visual memory. Participants received a study phase with pictures/sounds, followed by a recognition memory test. Participants then completed auditory training with each of the sounds, followed by a second memory test. Despite auditory training in Experiments 1 and 2, visual memory was superior to auditory memory. In Experiment 3, we found that it is possible to improve auditory memory, but only after 3 days of specific auditory training and 3 days of visual memory decay. We examined the time course of information loss in auditory and visual memory in Experiment 4 and found a trade-off between visual and auditory recognition memory: Visual memory appears to have a larger capacity, while auditory memory is more enduring. Our results indicate that visual and auditory memory are inherently different memory systems and that differences in visual and auditory recognition memory performance may be due to the different amounts of experience with visual and auditory information, as well as structurally different neural circuitry specialized for information retention.

Accelerated Age-Dependent Hippocampal Volume Loss in Parkinson Disease With Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Christine B; Donix, Markus; Linse, Katharina; Werner, Annett; Fauser, Mareike; Klingelhoefer, Lisa; Löhle, Matthias; von Kummer, Rüdiger; Reichmann, Heinz; Storch, Alexander

2017-09-01

Patients with Parkinson disease are at high risk of developing dementia. During the course of the disease, a substantial number of patients will experience a cognitive decline, indicating the dynamics of the underlying neuropathology. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become increasingly useful for identifying structural characteristics in radiological brain anatomy existing prior to clinical symptoms. Whether these changes reflect pathology, whether they are aging related, or both often remains unclear. We hypothesized that aging-associated brain structural changes would be more pronounced in the hippocampal region among patients with Parkinson disease having mild cognitive deficits relative to cognitively unimpaired patients. Using MRI, we investigated 30 cognitively healthy patients with Parkinson disease and 33 patients with nondemented Parkinson disease having mild cognitive impairment. All participants underwent structural MRI scanning and extensive clinical and neuropsychological assessments. Irrespective of the study participants' cognitive status, older age was associated with reduced cortical thickness in various neocortical regions. Having mild cognitive impairment was not associated with an increased rate of cortical thinning or volume loss in these regions, except in the hippocampus bilaterally. Patients with Parkinson disease having mild cognitive impairment show an accelerated age-dependent hippocampal volume loss when compared with cognitively healthy patients with Parkinson disease. This may indicate pathological processes in a key region for memory functioning in patients with Parkinson disease at risk of developing dementia. Structural MRI of the hippocampal region could potentially contribute to identifying patients who should receive early treatment aimed at delaying the clinical onset of dementia.

Age related changes in T cell mediated immune response and effector memory to Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV in healthy subjects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Campoccia Giuseppe

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV is the major pathogen causing respiratory disease in young infants and it is an important cause of serious illness in the elderly since the infection provides limited immune protection against reinfection. In order to explain this phenomenon, we investigated whether healthy adults of different age (20-40; 41-60 and > 60 years, have differences in central and effector memory, RSV-specific CD8+ T cell memory immune response and regulatory T cell expression status. In the peripheral blood of these donors, we were unable to detect any age related difference in term of central (CD45RA-CCR7+ and effector (CD45RA-CCR7- memory T cell frequency. On the contrary, we found a significant increase in immunosuppressive regulatory (CD4+25+FoxP3+ T cells (Treg in the elderly. An immunocytofluorimetric RSV pentamer analysis performed on these donors' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs, in vitro sensitized against RSV antigen, revealed a marked decline in long-lasting RSV specific CD8+ memory T cell precursors expressing interleukin 7 receptor α (IL-7Rα, in the elderly. This effect was paralleled by a progressive switch from a Th1 (IFN-γ and TNF-α to a Th2 (IL-10 functional phenotype. On the contrary, an increase in Treg was observed with aging. The finding of Treg over-expression status, a prominent Th2 response and an inefficient RSV-specific effector memory CD8+ T cell expansion in older donors could explain the poor protection against RSV reinfection and the increased risk to develop an RSV-related severe illness in this population. Our finding also lays the basis for new therapeutic perspectives that could limit or prevent severe RSV infection in elderly.

Eliminating age differences in children's and adults' suggestibility and memory conformity effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Otgaar, Henry; Howe, Mark L; Brackmann, Nathalie; van Helvoort, Daniël H J

2017-05-01

We examined whether typical developmental trends in suggestion-induced false memories (i.e., age-related decrease) could be changed. Using theoretical principles from the spontaneous false memory field, we adapted 2 often-used false memory procedures: misinformation (Experiment 1) and memory conformity (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 7- to 9-year-old children (n = 33) and adults (n = 39) received stories containing associatively related details. They then listened to misinformation in the form of short narratives preserving the meaning of the story. Children and adults were equally susceptible to the misinformation effect. In Experiment 2, younger (7- to 8-year-olds, n = 30) and older (11- to 12-year-olds, n = 30) children and adults (n = 30) viewed pictures containing associatively related details. They viewed these pictures in pairs. Although the pictures differed, participants believed they had viewed the same pictures. Participants had to report what they could recollect during collaborative and individual recall tests. Children and adults were equally susceptible to memory conformity effects. When correcting for response bias, adults' false memory scores were even higher than children's. Our results show that age trends in suggestion-induced false memories are not developmentally invariant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The problem of arriving at a phenomenological description of memory loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Moyle, W; Clinton, M

1997-07-01

This paper discusses a methodological difficulty that arose when uncovering the conscious experience of being nurtured as an in-patient with depression on a psychiatric ward. It considers the problem of arriving at a phenomenological description of memory loss in a patient who had undergone electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The paper begins by describing the prevalence of depression and its significance for nurses working in in-patient settings. Examples of empirical research into memory loss in depression are used to show what researchers must set aside if they are to arrive at a phenomenological description of memory loss. The choice of a phenomenological approach to the wider study from which the methodological problem discussed here arose is then justified. The phenomena of memory is introduced to show the methodological significance of attempting to arrive at a phenomenological description of the statement made by one of the participants, a woman being treated as an in-patient for major depression. A possible description of the phenomena of memory loss based on the existential phenomenology of Sartre is offered to call into question the ability of researchers to bracket their assumptions. The significance for nurses of the wider study from which our example is taken is then described. Finally it is argued that despite the methodological difficulty described, a phenomenological perspective based on the philosophy of Husserl can point nurses in the direction of meeting the human needs of their patients.

The effects of age and experience on memory for visually presented music.

Science.gov (United States)

Meinz, E J; Salthouse, T A

1998-01-01

Increased age is often associated with lower levels of performance in tests of memory for spatial information. The primary question in the current study was whether this relationship could be moderated as a function of one's relevant experience and/or knowledge. Stimulus materials consisted of short (7-11 note), visually presented musical melodies and structurally equivalent nonmusical stimuli. Participants (N = 128) were recruited from a wide range of age and experience levels. Although there were strong main effects of age and experience on memory for music, there was no evidence that the age-related differences in memory for these stimuli were smaller for individuals with moderate to large amounts of experience with music.

How Japanese adults perceive memory change with age: middle-aged adults with memory performance as high as young adults evaluate their memory abilities as low as older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinjo, Hikari; Shimizu, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

The characteristics of self-referent beliefs about memory change with age. The relationship between beliefs and memory performance of three age groups of Japanese adults was investigated. The beliefs measured by the Personal Beliefs about Memory Instrument (Lineweaver & Hertzog, 1998) differed among the age groups and between sexes. In most scales, the ratings by middle-aged adults were as low as those by older adults, which were lower than those by young adults. Women perceived their memory abilities as lower than men's, with no interaction between age and sex, suggesting the difference remains across the lifespan. For middle-aged adults, the better they performed in cued-recall, free recall, and recognition, the lower they evaluated their memory self-efficacy, while few relationships were found for other groups. Our results suggest that cognitive beliefs change with age and that investigating the beliefs of the middle-aged adults is indispensable to elucidate the transition of beliefs.

Short-term blueberry-enriched antioxidant diet prevents and reverses object recognition memory loss in aged rats

Science.gov (United States)

Objective Previously, four months of a blueberry-enriched (BB) antioxidant diet prevented impaired object recognition memory in aged rats. Experiment 1 determined whether one and two-month BB diets would have a similar effect and whether the benefits would disappear promptly after terminating the d...

A Four–Component Model of Age–Related Memory Change

Science.gov (United States)

Healey, M. Karl; Kahana, Michael J.

2015-01-01

We develop a novel, computationally explicit, theory of age–related memory change within the framework of the context maintenance and retrieval (CMR2) model of memory search. We introduce a set of benchmark findings from the free recall and recognition tasks that includes aspects of memory performance that show both age-related stability and decline. We test aging theories by lesioning the corresponding mechanisms in a model fit to younger adult free recall data. When effects are considered in isolation, many theories provide an adequate account, but when all effects are considered simultaneously, the existing theories fail. We develop a novel theory by fitting the full model (i.e., allowing all parameters to vary) to individual participants and comparing the distributions of parameter values for older and younger adults. This theory implicates four components: 1) the ability to sustain attention across an encoding episode, 2) the ability to retrieve contextual representations for use as retrieval cues, 3) the ability to monitor retrievals and reject intrusions, and 4) the level of noise in retrieval competitions. We extend CMR2 to simulate a recognition memory task using the same mechanisms the free recall model uses to reject intrusions. Without fitting any additional parameters, the four–component theory that accounts for age differences in free recall predicts the magnitude of age differences in recognition memory accuracy. Confirming a prediction of the model, free recall intrusion rates correlate positively with recognition false alarm rates. Thus we provide a four–component theory of a complex pattern of age differences across two key laboratory tasks. PMID:26501233

Age differences in false memory: The importance of retrieval monitoring processes and their modulation by memory quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Fandakova, Yana; Sander, Myriam C; Grandy, Thomas H; Cabeza, Roberto; Werkle-Bergner, Markus; Shing, Yee Lee

2018-02-01

Older adults are more likely than younger adults to falsely recall past episodes that occurred differently or not at all. We examined whether older adults' propensity for false associative memory is related to declines in postretrieval monitoring processes and their modulation with varying memory representations. Younger (N = 20) and older adults (N = 32) studied and relearned unrelated scene-word pairs, followed by a final cued recall that was used to distribute the pairs for an associative recognition test 24 hours later. This procedure allowed individualized formation of rearranged pairs that were made up of elements of pairs that were correctly recalled in the final cued recall ("high-quality" pairs), and of pairs that were not correctly recalled ("low-quality" pairs). Both age groups falsely recognized more low-quality than high-quality rearranged pairs, with a less pronounced reduction in false alarms to high-quality pairs in older adults. In younger adults, cingulo-opercular activity was enhanced for false alarms and for low-quality correct rejections, consistent with its role in postretrieval monitoring. Older adults did not show such modulated recruitment, suggesting deficits in their selective engagement of monitoring processes given variability in the fidelity of memory representations. There were no age differences in hippocampal activity, which was higher for high-quality than low-quality correct rejections in both age groups. These results demonstrate that the engagement of cingulo-opercular monitoring mechanisms varies with memory representation quality and contributes to age-related deficits in false associative memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

中国老年人增龄性记忆改变%Aging-rlated memory changes of older Chinese adults

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

程灶火; 郑虹; 耿铭; 王力

2002-01-01

Objective Explore the characteristics of age related memory changes of older Chinese adults living in the community and memory changes relative to age,education,gender,and occupation.Methods The Multi dimensional Memory Assessment Scale(MMAS) was administered 50 young adults aged between 20 and 30,as well as 280 older adults between 50 and 91 years of age and from three counties and Changsha city of Hunan province,China.Results Comparing with young adults,the memory functions of Chinese adults over 50 decreased with aging and went down abruptly after 65 years old,except for everyday life memory.The explicit memory of older adults declined with age more significantly than implicit memory.For explicit memory,the impairment of associate learning occurred more early and severely than free recall and recognition.The age,education,occupation,and gender were significant predictors of the explicit memory,the implicit memory was predicted only by age,and education and gender were significant predictors of the everyday life memory.Conclusion The older Chinese adults perform poorly on the memory tests as compared with young adults,the rates of decline of different memory functions are different,and the age,education,occupation,and gender have effects on the different types of memory.

Thalamic structures and associated cognitive functions: Relations with age and aging

Science.gov (United States)

Fama, Rosemary; Sullivan, Edith V.

2015-01-01

The thalamus, with its cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar connections, is a critical node in networks supporting cognitive functions known to decline in normal aging, including component processes of memory and executive functions of attention and information processing. The macrostructure, microstructure, and neural connectivity of the thalamus changes across the adult lifespan. Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have demonstrated, regional thalamic volume shrinkage and microstructural degradation, with anterior regions generally more compromised than posterior regions. The integrity of selective thalamic nuclei and projections decline with advancing age, particularly those in thalamofrontal, thalamoparietal, and thalamolimbic networks. This review presents studies that assess the relations between age and aging and the structure, function, and connectivity of the thalamus and associated neural networks and focuses on their relations with processes of attention, speed of information processing, and working and episodic memory. PMID:25862940

Brain plasticity, memory, and aging: a discussion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennett, E.L.; Rosenzweig, M.R.

1977-12-01

It is generally assumed that memory faculties decline with age. A discussion of the relationship of memory and aging and the possibility of retarding the potential decline is hampered by the fact that no satisfactory explanation of memory is available in either molecular or anatomical terms. However, this lack of description of memory does not mean that there is a lack of suggested mechanisms for long-term memory storage. Present theories of memory usually include first, neurophysiological or electrical events, followed by a series of chemical events which ultimately lead to long-lasting anatomical changes in the brain. Evidence is increasing for the biochemical and anatomical plasticity of the nervous system and its importance in the normal functioning of the brain. Modification of this plasticity may be an important factor in senescence. This discussion reports experiments which indicate that protein synthesis and anatomical changes may be involved in long-term memory storage. Environmental influences can produce quantitative differences in brain anatomy and in behavior. In experimental animals, enriched environments lead to more complex anatomical patterns than do colony or impoverished environments. This raises fundamental questions about the adequacy of the isolated animal which is frequently being used as a model for aging research. A more important applied question is the role of social and intellectual stimulation in influencing aging of the human brain.

Examining the Relative Contribution of Memory Updating, Attention Focus Switching, and Sustained Attention to Children’s Verbal Working Memory Span

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beula M. Magimairaj

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Whereas considerable developmental memory research has examined the contributions of short-term memory, processing efficiency, retention duration, and scope of attention to complex memory span, little is known about the influence of controlled attention. The present study investigated the relative influence of three understudied attention mechanisms on the verbal working memory span of school-age children: memory updating; attention focus switching; and sustained attention. Results of general linear modeling revealed that, after controlling for age, only updating accuracy emerged as a significant predictor of verbal working memory span. Memory updating speed (that subsumed attention focus switching speed also contributed but was mediated by age. The results extend the developmental memory literature by implicating the mechanism of memory updating and developmental improvement in speed of attention focus switching and updating as critical contributors to children’s verbal working memory. Theoretically, the results provide substantively new information about the role of domain-general executive attention in children’s verbal working memory.

A Diffusion Model Analysis of Adult Age Differences in Episodic and Semantic Long-Term Memory Retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Spaniol, Julia; Madden, David J.; Voss, Andreas

2006-01-01

Two experiments investigated adult age differences in episodic and semantic long-term memory tasks, as a test of the hypothesis of specific age-related decline in context memory. Older adults were slower and exhibited lower episodic accuracy than younger adults. Fits of the diffusion model (R. Ratcliff, 1978) revealed age-related increases in…

Ageing and feature binding in visual working memory: The role of presentation time.

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Stephen; Parra, Mario A; Logie, Robert H

2016-01-01

A large body of research has clearly demonstrated that healthy ageing is accompanied by an associative memory deficit. Older adults exhibit disproportionately poor performance on memory tasks requiring the retention of associations between items (e.g., pairs of unrelated words). In contrast to this robust deficit, older adults' ability to form and temporarily hold bound representations of an object's surface features, such as colour and shape, appears to be relatively well preserved. However, the findings of one set of experiments suggest that older adults may struggle to form temporary bound representations in visual working memory when given more time to study objects. However, these findings were based on between-participant comparisons across experimental paradigms. The present study directly assesses the role of presentation time in the ability of younger and older adults to bind shape and colour in visual working memory using a within-participant design. We report new evidence that giving older adults longer to study memory objects does not differentially affect their immediate memory for feature combinations relative to individual features. This is in line with a growing body of research suggesting that there is no age-related impairment in immediate memory for colour-shape binding.

Likely Age-Related Hearing Loss (Presbycusis) in a Stranded Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis).

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Songhai; Wang, Ding; Wang, Kexiong; Hoffmann-Kuhnt, Matthias; Fernando, Nimal; Taylor, Elizabeth A; Lin, Wenzhi; Chen, Jialin; Ng, Timothy

2016-01-01

The hearing of a stranded Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) in Zhuhai, China, was measured. The age of this animal was estimated to be ~40 years. The animal's hearing was measured using a noninvasive auditory evoked potential (AEP) method. The results showed that the high-frequency hearing cutoff frequency of the studied dolphin was ~30-40 kHz lower than that of a conspecific younger individual ~13 year old. The lower high-frequency hearing range in the older dolphin was explained as a likely result of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis).

The influence of aging on attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal during working memory on later episodic memory performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Loaiza, Vanessa M; McCabe, David P

2013-01-01

We investigated age-related changes in two proposed mechanisms of maintenance in working memory, articulatory rehearsal, and attentional refreshing, by examining the consequences of manipulating the opportunity for each on delayed recall. Both experiments utilized modified operation span tasks to vary the opportunity for articulatory rehearsal (Experiment 1) and attentional refreshing opportunities (Experiment 2). In both experiments, episodic memory was tested for items that had been initially studied during the respective operation span task. Older adults' episodic memory benefited less from opportunities for refreshing than younger adults. In contrast, articulatory rehearsal opportunities did not influence episodic memory for either age group. The results suggest that attentional refreshing, and not articulatory rehearsal, is important during working memory in order to bind more accessible traces at later tests, which appears to be more deficient in older adults than younger adults.

False memory in aging: effects of emotional valence on word recognition accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Piguet, Olivier; Connally, Emily; Krendl, Anne C; Huot, Jessica R; Corkin, Suzanne

2008-06-01

Memory is susceptible to distortions. Valence and increasing age are variables known to affect memory accuracy and may increase false alarm production. Interaction between these variables and their impact on false memory was investigated in 36 young (18-28 years) and 36 older (61-83 years) healthy adults. At study, participants viewed lists of neutral words orthographically related to negative, neutral, or positive critical lures (not presented). Memory for these words was subsequently tested with a remember-know procedure. At test, items included the words seen at study and their associated critical lures, as well as sets of orthographically related neutral words not seen at study and their associated unstudied lures. Positive valence was shown to have two opposite effects on older adults' discrimination of the lures: It improved correct rejection of unstudied lures but increased false memory for critical lures (i.e., lures associated with words studied previously). Thus, increased salience triggered by positive valence may disrupt memory accuracy in older adults when discriminating among similar events. These findings likely reflect a source memory deficit due to decreased efficiency in cognitive control processes with aging.

Recent advances in the study of age-related hearing loss - A Mini-Review

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, Ambrose R; Bao, Jianxin

2013-01-01

Hearing loss is a common age-associated affliction that can result from the loss of hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) in the cochlea. Although hair cells and SGNs are typically lost in the same cochlea, recent analysis suggests that they can occur independently, via unique mechanisms. Research has identified both environmental and genetic factors that contribute to degeneration of cochlear cells. Additionally, molecular analysis has identified multiple cell signaling mechanisms that likely contribute to pathological changes that result in hearing deficiencies. These analyses should serve as useful primers for future work, including genomic and proteomic analysis, to elucidate the mechanisms driving cell loss in the aging cochlea. Significant progress in this field has occurred in the past decade. As our understanding of aging-induced cochlear changes continues to improve, our ability to offer medical intervention will surely benefit the growing elderly population. PMID:22710288

Age Differences in Memory Span

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Michelene T. H.

1977-01-01

Three experiments were conducted to determine processes underlying age differences in the level of recall in a memory-span task. Five-year-olds recalled fewer items than adults in memory-span tasks involving both familiar and unfamiliar faces, even though the use of rehearsal and recoding strategies was minimized for adults. (MS)

Genetic Complexity of Episodic Memory: A Twin Approach to Studies of Aging

Science.gov (United States)

Kremen, William S.; Spoon, Kelly M.; Jacobson, Kristen C.; Vasilopoulos, Terrie; McCaffery, Jeanne M.; Panizzon, Matthew S.; Franz, Carol E.; Vuoksimaa, Eero; Xian, Hong; Rana, Brinda K.; Toomey, Rosemary; McKenzie, Ruth; Lyons, Michael J.

2016-01-01

Episodic memory change is a central issue in cognitive aging, and understanding that process will require elucidation of its genetic underpinnings. A key limiting factor in genetically informed research on memory has been lack of attention to genetic and phenotypic complexity, as if “memory is memory” and all well-validated assessments are essentially equivalent. Here we applied multivariate twin models to data from late-middle-aged participants in the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging to examine the genetic architecture of 6 measures from 3 standard neuropsychological tests: the California Verbal Learning Test-2, and Wechsler Memory Scale-III Logical Memory (LM) and Visual Reproductions (VR). An advantage of the twin method is that it can estimate the extent to which latent genetic influences are shared or independent across different measures before knowing which specific genes are involved. The best-fitting model was a higher order common pathways model with a heritable higher order general episodic memory factor and three test-specific subfactors. More importantly, substantial genetic variance was accounted for by genetic influences that were specific to the latent LM and VR subfactors (28% and 30%, respectively) and independent of the general factor. Such unique genetic influences could partially account for replication failures. Moreover, if different genes influence different memory phenotypes, they could well have different age-related trajectories. This approach represents an important step toward providing critical information for all types of genetically informative studies of aging and memory. PMID:24956007

The effect of caffeine on working memory load-related brain activation in middle-aged males.

Science.gov (United States)

Klaassen, Elissa B; de Groot, Renate H M; Evers, Elisabeth A T; Snel, Jan; Veerman, Enno C I; Ligtenberg, Antoon J M; Jolles, Jelle; Veltman, Dick J

2013-01-01

Caffeine is commonly consumed in an effort to enhance cognitive performance. However, little is known about the usefulness of caffeine with regard to memory enhancement, with previous studies showing inconsistent effects on memory performance. We aimed to determine the effect of caffeine on working memory (WM) load-related activation during encoding, maintenance and retrieval phases of a WM maintenance task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 20 healthy, male, habitual caffeine consumers aged 40-61 years were administered 100 mg of caffeine in a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design. Participants were scanned in a non-withdrawn state following a workday during which caffeinated products were consumed according to individual normal use (range = 145-595 mg). Acute caffeine administration was associated with increased load-related activation compared to placebo in the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during WM encoding, but decreased load-related activation in the left thalamus during WM maintenance. These findings are indicative of an effect of caffeine on the fronto-parietal network involved in the top-down cognitive control of WM processes during encoding and an effect on the prefrontal cortico-thalamic loop involved in the interaction between arousal and the top-down control of attention during maintenance. Therefore, the effects of caffeine on WM may be attributed to both a direct effect of caffeine on WM processes, as well as an indirect effect on WM via arousal modulation. Behavioural and fMRI results were more consistent with a detrimental effect of caffeine on WM at higher levels of WM load, than caffeine-related WM enhancement. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Aging on General and Specific Memory for Impressions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan J. Limbert

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Despite the number of documented declines in memory with age, memory for socioemotional information can be preserved into older adulthood. These studies assessed whether memory for character information could be preserved with age, and how the general versus specific nature of the information tested affected outcomes. We hypothesized that memory for general impressions would be preserved with age, but that memory for specific details would be impaired. In two experiments, younger and older adults learned character information about individuals characterized as positive, neutral, or negative. Participants then retrieved general impressions and specific information for each individual. The testing conditions in Experiment 2 discouraged deliberate recall. In Experiment 1, we found that younger performed better than older adults on both general and specific memory measures. Although age differences in memory for specific information persisted in Experiment 2, we found that younger and older adults remembered general impressions to a similar extent when testing conditions encouraged the use of “gut impressions” rather than deliberate retrieval from memory. We conclude that aging affects memory for specific character information, but memory for general impressions can be age-equivalent. Furthermore, there is no evidence for a positivity bias or differences in the effects of valence on memory across the age groups.

T-cell differentiation and CD56+ levels in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy and neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Subhi, Yousif; Nielsen, Marie Krogh; Molbech, Christopher Rue; Oishi, Akio; Singh, Amardeep; Nissen, Mogens Holst; Sørensen, Torben Lykke

2017-11-20

Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are prevalent age-related diseases characterized by exudative changes in the macula. Although they share anatomical and clinical similarities, they are also distinctly characterized by their own features, e.g. vascular abnormalities in PCV and drusen-mediated progression in neovascular AMD. PCV remains etiologically uncharacterized, and ongoing discussion is whether PCV and neovascular AMD share the same etiology or constitute two substantially different diseases. In this study, we investigated T-cell differentiation and aging profile in human patients with PCV, patients with neovascular AMD, and age-matched healthy control individuals. Fresh venous blood was prepared for flow cytometry to investigate CD4 + and CD8 + T-cell differentiation (naïve, central memory, effector memory, effector memory CD45ra + ), loss of differentiation markers CD27 and CD28, and expression of aging marker CD56. Patients with PCV were similar to the healthy controls in all aspects. In patients with neovascular AMD we found significantly accelerated T-cell differentiation (more CD28 - CD27 - cells) and aging (more CD56 + cells) in the CD8 + T-cell compartment. These findings suggest that PCV and neovascular AMD are etiologically different in terms of T cell immunity, and that neovascular AMD is associated with T-cell immunosenescence.

Protective Role of Educational Level on Episodic Memory Aging: An Event-Related Potential Study

Science.gov (United States)

Angel, Lucie; Fay, Severine; Bouazzaoui, Badiaa; Baudouin, Alexia; Isingrini, Michel

2010-01-01

The aim of the present experiment was to investigate whether educational level could modulate the effect of aging on episodic memory and on the electrophysiological correlates of retrieval success. Participants were divided into four groups based on age (young vs. older) and educational level (high vs. low), with 14 participants in each group.…

Hippocampal subfield volumes: Age, vascular risk, and correlation with associative memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yee Lee eShing

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Aging and age-related diseases have negative impact on the hippocampus (HC, which is crucial for such age-sensitive functions as memory formation, maintenance, and retrieval. We examined age differences in hippocampal subfield volumes in 10 younger and 19 older adults, and association of those volumes with memory performance in the older participants. We manually measured volumes of HC regions CA1 and CA2 (CA1-2, sectors CA3 and CA4 plus dentate gyrus (CA3-4/DG, subiculum and the entorhinal cortex using a contrast-optimized high-resolution PD-weighted MRI sequence. Although, as in previous reports, the volume of one region (CA1-2 was larger in the young, the difference was due to the presence of hypertensive subjects among the older adults. Among older participants, increased false alarm (FA rate in an associative recognition memory task was linked to reduced CA3-4/DG volume. We discuss the role of the dentate gyrus in pattern separation and the formation of discrete memory representations.

Computer-Based Cognitive Programs for Improvement of Memory, Processing Speed and Executive Function during Age-Related Cognitive Decline: A Meta-Analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan-kun Shao

Full Text Available Several studies have assessed the effects of computer-based cognitive programs (CCP in the management of age-related cognitive decline, but the role of CCP remains controversial. Therefore, this systematic review evaluated the evidence on the efficacy of CCP for age-related cognitive decline in healthy older adults.Six electronic databases (through October 2014 were searched. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. The standardized mean difference (SMD and 95% confidence intervals (CI of a random-effects model were calculated. The heterogeneity was assessed using the Cochran Q statistic and quantified with the I2 index.Twelve studies were included in the current review and were considered as moderate to high methodological quality. The aggregated results indicate that CCP improves memory performance (SMD, 0.31; 95% CI 0.16 to 0.45; p < 0.0001 and processing speed (SMD, 0.50; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.87; p = 0.007 but not executive function (SMD, -0.12; 95% CI -0.33 to 0.09; p = 0.27. Furthermore, there were long-term gains in memory performance (SMD, 0.59; 95% CI 0.13 to 1.05; p = 0.01.CCP may be a valid complementary and alternative therapy for age-related cognitive decline, especially for memory performance and processing speed. However, more studies with longer follow-ups are warranted to confirm the current findings.

Age-related associative deficits and the isolation effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Badham, Stephen P; Maylor, Elizabeth A

2013-01-01

If all but one of the items in a list are similar (e.g., all black except one red), memory for the different item is enhanced (the isolation effect). Older adults generally show similar or smaller isolation effects compared to young adults, which has been attributed to age-related deficits in associative memory whereby older adults are less able to associate an isolated stimulus to its isolating feature. Experiment 1 examined the isolation effect for isolation based on spatial position, modality and color; in Experiment 2, the criterion for isolation was the associative relation between stimuli. The results consistently showed no differences between young and older participants in the magnitude of the isolation effect. Whilst age deficits in associative memory may act to reduce the isolation effect in older adults, age deficits in self-initiated processing and inhibitory functionality may counteract this reduction by enhancing the isolation effect in older adults.

Loss of Function of P2X7 Receptor Scavenger Activity in Aging Mice: A Novel Model for Investigating the Early Pathogenesis of Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Vessey, Kirstan A; Gu, Ben J; Jobling, Andrew I; Phipps, Joanna A; Greferath, Ursula; Tran, Mai X; Dixon, Michael A; Baird, Paul N; Guymer, Robyn H; Wiley, James S; Fletcher, Erica L

2017-08-01

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of irreversible, severe vision loss in Western countries. Recently, we identified a novel pathway involving P2X7 receptor scavenger function expressed on ocular immune cells as a risk factor for advanced AMD. In this study, we investigate the effect of loss of P2X7 receptor function on retinal structure and function during aging. P2X7-null and wild-type C57bl6J mice were investigated at 4, 12, and 18 months of age for macrophage phagocytosis activity, ocular histological changes, and retinal function. Phagocytosis activity of blood-borne macrophages decreased with age at 18 months in the wild-type mouse. Lack of P2X7 receptor function reduced phagocytosis at all ages compared to wild-type mice. At 12 months of age, P2X7-null mice had thickening of Bruchs membrane and retinal pigment epithelium dysfunction. By 18 months of age, P2X7-null mice displayed phenotypic characteristics consistent with early AMD, including Bruchs membrane thickening, retinal pigment epithelium cell loss, retinal functional deficits, and signs of subretinal inflammation. Our present study shows that loss of function of the P2X7 receptor in mice induces retinal changes representing characteristics of early AMD, providing a valuable model for investigating the role of scavenger receptor function and the immune system in the development of this age-related disease. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Investigative Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Episodic and semantic memory functioning in very old age: Explanations from executive functioning and processing speed theories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pauline E.J. Spaan

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Structural equation modeling was used to investigate whether age-related episodic and semantic memory impairments are better explained by decline in processing speed or executive functioning (or both, rather than directly in terms of memory components. The models tested were based on an extensive review of the literature on cognitive decline in normal aging, up to very old age. A computerized test battery, measuring episodic memory (free and cued recall; recognition, semantic memory (fluency; naming accuracy and latencies, processing speed and executive functioning, was administered to 234 elderly persons ranging from young-old to very old age (55–96 years. To avoid large variance in response times due to physical instead of cognitive limitations, no motor responses were required from participants. Age-related decline in episodic and semantic memory performance was found to be the consequence of declines in processing speed and executive functioning. Processing speed mainly mediated decline of semantic memory, whereas executive functioning mainly mediated episodic memory decline. The most parsimonious model showed that both processing speed and executive functioning attributed to memory decline but independent from one another. The results suggest that at very old age, the impact of executive dysfunctions on episodic memory performance exceeds the influence of cognitive slowing.

“Not Promising a Landfall …”: An Autotopographical Account of Loss of Place, Memory and Landscape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jones, Owain

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper contributes to discussions about landscape and place and how they are practised in relation to time, displacement, memory and loss. I develop a multi-dimensional account of how landscape is generated in the moment by spatio-temporal topologies and topographies in which memory, movement and materiality play full parts. I consider absence, loss and displacement and how they operate within self-landscape practice, and how particular forms of materiality (in this case, large bridges become charged with all sorts of emotions relating to personal history (how bridges can be psychogeographical “hotspots”. Displacement from, or loss of, home/land/place/nature—driven by one means or another (economic, conflict, environmental degradations—can be a looming presence in everyday life. Resulting emotions and affective traces can suffuse through and cleave to materiality, and materiality patterned into landscape, in contingent, unexpected and unaccountable ways, which, as articulated through everyday affective life, are hard to represent in (academic language. Questions are raised about the relationships between self, time, memory, materiality and place, using a non-representational, creative approach, based on image and textual collage.

Mood, motivation, and misinformation: aging and affective state influences on memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Thomas M; Popham, Lauren E; Emery, Lisa; Elliott, Tonya

2012-01-01

Normative age differences in memory have typically been attributed to declines in basic cognitive and cortical mechanisms. The present study examined the degree to which dominant everyday affect might also be associated with age-related memory errors using the misinformation paradigm. Younger and older adults viewed a positive and a negative event, and then were exposed to misinformation about each event. Older adults exhibited a higher likelihood than young adults of falsely identifying misinformation as having occurred in the events. Consistent with expectations, strength of the misinformation effect was positively associated with dominant mood, and controlling for mood eliminated any age effects. Also, motivation to engage in complex cognitive activity was negatively associated with susceptibility to misinformation, and susceptibility was stronger for negative than for positive events. We argue that motivational processes underlie all of the observed effects, and that such processes are useful in understanding age differences in memory performance.

Severity and pattern of bone mineral loss in endocrine causes of osteoporosis as compared to age-related bone mineral loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D Dutta

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Data are scant on bone health in endocrinopathies from India. This study evaluated bone mineral density (BMD loss in endocrinopathies [Graves′ disease (GD, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM, hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (HypoH, hypergonadotropic hypogonadism (HyperH, hypopituitarism, primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT] as compared to age-related BMD loss [postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO, andropause]. Materials and Methods: Retrospective audit of records of patients >30 years age attending a bone clinic from August 2014 to January 2016 was done. Results: Five-hundred and seven records were screened, out of which 420 (females:male = 294:126 were analyzed. A significantly higher occurrence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was noted in T1DM (89.09%, HyperH (85%, and HypoH (79.59% compared to age-related BMD loss (60.02%; P < 0.001. The occurrence of osteoporosis among females and males was 55.41% and 53.97%, respectively, and of osteopenia among females and males was 28.91% and 32.54%, respectively. In females, osteoporosis was significantly higher in T1DM (92%, HyperH (85%, and HypoH (59.26% compared to PMO (49.34%; P < 0.001. Z score at LS, TF, NOF, and greater trochanter (GT was consistently lowest in T1DM women. Among men, osteoporosis was significantly higher in T1DM (76.67% and HypoH (54.55% compared to andropause (45.45%; P = 0.001. Z score at LS, TF, NOF, GT, and TR was consistently lowest in T1DM men. In GD, the burden of osteoporosis was similar to PMO and andropause. BMD difference among the study groups was not significantly different after adjusting for body mass index (BMI and vitamin D. Conclusion: Low bone mass is extremely common in endocrinopathies, warranting routine screening and intervention. Concomitant vitamin D deficiency compounds the problem. Calcium and vitamin D supplementations may improve bone health in this setting.

The two sides of sensory-cognitive interactions: effects of age, hearing acuity, and working memory span on sentence comprehension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renee eDeCaro

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Reduced hearing acuity is among the most prevalent of chronic medical conditions among older adults. An experiment is reported in which comprehension of spoken sentences was tested for older adults with good hearing acuity or with a mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and young adults with age-normal hearing. Comprehension was measured by participants’ ability to determine of the agent of an action in sentences that expressed this relation with a syntactically less complex subject-relative construction or a syntactically more complex object-relative construction. Agency determination was further challenged by inserting a prepositional phrase into sentences between the person performing an action and the action being performed. As a control, prepositional phrases of equivalent length were also inserted into sentences in a non-disruptive position. Effects on sentence comprehension of age, hearing acuity, prepositional phrase placement and sound level of stimulus presentations appeared only for comprehension of sentences with the more syntactically complex object-relative structures. Working memory as tested by reading span scores accounted for a significant amount of the variance in comprehension accuracy. Once working memory capacity and hearing acuity were taken into account, chronological age among the older adults contributed no further variance to comprehension accuracy. Results are discussed in terms of the positive and negative effects of sensory-cognitive interactions in comprehension of spoken sentences and lend support to a framework in which domain-general executive resources, notably verbal working memory, play a role in both linguistic and perceptual processing.

Age-Related Decline in Controlled Retrieval: The Role of the PFC and Sleep

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristine A. Wilckens

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Age-related cognitive impairments often include difficulty retrieving memories, particularly those that rely on executive control. In this paper we discuss the influence of the prefrontal cortex on memory retrieval, and the specific memory processes associated with the prefrontal cortex that decline in late adulthood. We conclude that preretrieval processes associated with preparation to make a memory judgment are impaired, leading to greater reliance on postretrieval processes. This is consistent with the view that impairments in executive control significantly contribute to deficits in controlled retrieval. Finally, we discuss age-related changes in sleep as a potential mechanism that contributes to deficiencies in executive control that are important for efficient retrieval. The sleep literature points to the importance of slow-wave sleep in restoration of prefrontal cortex function. Given that slow-wave sleep significantly declines with age, we hypothesize that age-related changes in slow-wave sleep could mediate age-related decline in executive control, manifesting a robust deficit in controlled memory retrieval processes. Interventions, like physical activity, that improve sleep could be effective methods to enhance controlled memory processes in late life.

Effects of age, gender, and stimulus presentation period on visual short-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunimi, Mitsunobu

2016-01-01

This study focused on age-related changes in visual short-term memory using visual stimuli that did not allow verbal encoding. Experiment 1 examined the effects of age and the length of the stimulus presentation period on visual short-term memory function. Experiment 2 examined the effects of age, gender, and the length of the stimulus presentation period on visual short-term memory function. The worst memory performance and the largest performance difference between the age groups were observed in the shortest stimulus presentation period conditions. The performance difference between the age groups became smaller as the stimulus presentation period became longer; however, it did not completely disappear. Although gender did not have a significant effect on d' regardless of the presentation period in the young group, a significant gender-based difference was observed for stimulus presentation periods of 500 ms and 1,000 ms in the older group. This study indicates that the decline in visual short-term memory observed in the older group is due to the interaction of several factors.

Short-term inhibition of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 reversibly improves spatial memory but persistently impairs contextual fear memory in aged mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Wheelan, Nicola; Webster, Scott P; Kenyon, Christopher J; Caughey, Sarah; Walker, Brian R; Holmes, Megan C; Seckl, Jonathan R; Yau, Joyce L W

2015-04-01

High glucocorticoid levels induced by stress enhance the memory of fearful events and may contribute to the development of anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. In contrast, elevated glucocorticoids associated with ageing impair spatial memory. We have previously shown that pharmacological inhibition of the intracellular glucocorticoid-amplifying enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) improves spatial memory in aged mice. However, it is not known whether inhibition of 11β-HSD1 will have any beneficial effects on contextual fear memories in aged mice. Here, we examined the effects of UE2316, a selective 11β-HSD1 inhibitor which accesses the brain, on both spatial and contextual fear memories in aged mice using a vehicle-controlled crossover study design. Short-term UE2316 treatment improved spatial memory in aged mice, an effect which was reversed when UE2316 was substituted with vehicle. In contrast, contextual fear memory induced by foot-shock conditioning was significantly reduced by UE2316 in a non-reversible manner. When the order of treatment was reversed following extinction of the original fear memory, and a second foot-shock conditioning was given in a novel context, UE2316 treated aged mice (previously on vehicle) now showed increased fear memory compared to vehicle-treated aged mice (previously on UE2316). Renewal of the original extinguished fear memory triggered by exposure to a new environmental context may explain these effects. Thus 11β-HSD1 inhibition reverses spatial memory impairments with ageing while reducing the strength and persistence of new contextual fear memories. Potentially this could help prevent anxiety-related disorders in vulnerable elderly individuals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of cortisol reactivity to acute stress on memory: sex differences in middle-aged people.

Science.gov (United States)

Almela, Mercedes; Hidalgo, Vanesa; Villada, Carolina; Espín, Laura; Gómez-Amor, Jesús; Salvador, Alicia

2011-03-01

Stress has been identified as a main factor involved in the cognitive changes that occur during the aging process. This study investigated sex differences in the relationship between the magnitude of the acute stress-induced salivary cortisol response and memory performance among middle-aged people. To this end, 16 men and 16 women (aged 54-72 years) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test and a control condition in a crossover design. Afterwards their memory performance was measured using a standardized memory test (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Only among women, there was an acute impact of stress on memory performance and a significant relationship between a higher cortisol response to the stressor and poorer memory performance in both the stress and control conditions. Additionally, a poorer memory performance was related to earlier timing of sexual maturation (age at menarche), which was also marginally related to higher cortisol reactivity to stress. These results confirm that sex is a critical factor in the relationship between cortisol and poor memory performance. Furthermore, the findings emphasize a strong link between the individual cortisol response to stress and memory functioning among postmenopausal women.

[Cognitive aging mechanism of signaling effects on the memory for procedural sentences].

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Hiroki; Shimada, Hideaki

2006-08-01

The aim of this study was to clarify the cognitive aging mechanism of signaling effects on the memory for procedural sentences. Participants were 60 younger adults (college students) and 60 older adults. Both age groups were assigned into two groups; half of each group was presented with procedural sentences with signals that highlighted their top-level structure and the other half with procedural sentences without them. Both groups were requested to perform the sentence arrangement task and the reconstruction task. Each task was composed of procedural sentences with or without signals. Results indicated that signaling supported changes in strategy utilization during the successive organizational processes and that changes in strategy utilization resulting from signaling improved the memory for procedural sentences. Moreover, age-related factors interfered with these signaling effects. This study clarified the cognitive aging mechanism of signaling effects in which signaling supports changes in the strategy utilization during organizational processes at encoding and this mediation promotes memory for procedural sentences, though disuse of the strategy utilization due to aging restrains their memory for procedural sentences.

Memory for sequences of events impaired in typical aging

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Timothy A.; Morris, Andrea M.; Stark, Shauna M.; Fortin, Norbert J.

2015-01-01

Typical aging is associated with diminished episodic memory performance. To improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying this age-related memory deficit, we previously developed an integrated, cross-species approach to link converging evidence from human and animal research. This novel approach focuses on the ability to remember sequences of events, an important feature of episodic memory. Unlike existing paradigms, this task is nonspatial, nonverbal, and can be used to isolate different cognitive processes that may be differentially affected in aging. Here, we used this task to make a comprehensive comparison of sequence memory performance between younger (18–22 yr) and older adults (62–86 yr). Specifically, participants viewed repeated sequences of six colored, fractal images and indicated whether each item was presented “in sequence” or “out of sequence.” Several out of sequence probe trials were used to provide a detailed assessment of sequence memory, including: (i) repeating an item from earlier in the sequence (“Repeats”; e.g., ABADEF), (ii) skipping ahead in the sequence (“Skips”; e.g., ABDDEF), and (iii) inserting an item from a different sequence into the same ordinal position (“Ordinal Transfers”; e.g., AB3DEF). We found that older adults performed as well as younger controls when tested on well-known and predictable sequences, but were severely impaired when tested using novel sequences. Importantly, overall sequence memory performance in older adults steadily declined with age, a decline not detected with other measures (RAVLT or BPS-O). We further characterized this deficit by showing that performance of older adults was severely impaired on specific probe trials that required detailed knowledge of the sequence (Skips and Ordinal Transfers), and was associated with a shift in their underlying mnemonic representation of the sequences. Collectively, these findings provide unambiguous evidence that the

The effects of song familiarity and age on phenomenological characteristics and neural recruitment during autobiographical memory retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Jaclyn H; Rubin, David C; Giovanello, Kelly S

2016-09-01

Recent research suggests that emotional music clips can serve as a highly successful tool for eliciting rich autobiographical memories, and that the utility of these cues may be related to their subjective familiarity. The current study was designed to examine the effects of familiarity on phenomenological characteristics and neural recruitment during retrieval of autobiographical memories elicited by musical cues. Further, we were interested in understanding how these effects differ as a function of age. In an event-related functional neuroimaging study, participants retrieved autobiographical memories associated with age-specific popular musical clips. Participants rated song familiarity, as well as the temporal specificity and emotional valence of each memory. Song familiarity was associated with increased dmPFC activity and ratings of temporal specificity and positivity across participants. In addition, behavioral and neuroimaging findings suggest age differences in familiarity-related effects in which familiarity was more associated with enhancement of memory detail in young adults and affective positivity in older adults. These findings highlight important age-related shifts in how individuals retrieve autobiographical events and how personally-relevant musical cues may be used to facilitate memory retrieval.

Learning and memory in mice with neuropathic pain: impact of old age and progranulin deficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boris eAlbuquerque

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Persistent neuropathic pain is a frequent consequence of peripheral nerve injuries, particularly in the elderly. Using the IntelliCage we studied if a sciatic nerve injury obstructed learning and memory in young and aged mice, each in wild type and progranulin deficient mice, which develop premature signs of brain aging and are more susceptible to nerve injury evoked nociceptive hypersensitivity and hence allow to assess a potential mutual aggravation of pain and old age. Both young and aged mice developed long-term nerve injury-evoked hyperalgesia and allodynia but, in both genotypes, only aged mice with neuropathic pain showed high error rates in place avoidance acquisition tasks. Once learnt however, aged mice with neuropathic pain maintained the aversive memory longer, i.e. the extinction was significantly slowed. In addition, nerve injury in progranulin deficient mice impaired the learning of spatial sequences of awarded places, particularly in aged mice, whereas easy place preference learning was not affected by nerve injury or progranulin deficiency. The sequencing task required a discrimination of clockwise and anti-clockwise sequences and spatial flexibility to re-learn a novel sequence. The loss of spatial flexibility did not occur in sham operated mice, i.e. was a consequence of nerve injury and suggests that neuropathic pain accelerates manifestations of old age and progranulin deficiency. Neuropathic pain at old age, irrespective of the genotype, resulted in a long maintenance of aversive memory suggesting a negative alliance and possibly mutual aggravation of chronic neuropathic pain and aversive memory at old age.

Aging and memory: corrections for age, sex and education for three widely used memory tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Zappalà, G; Measso, G; Cavarzeran, F; Grigoletto, F; Lebowitz, B; Pirozzolo, F; Amaducci, L; Massari, D; Crook, T

1995-04-01

The associate learning subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scale; Benton's Visual Retention test and a Controlled Word Association Task (FAS) were administered to a random sample of normal, healthy individuals whose age ranged from 20 to 79 years, recruited within the Italian peninsula. The neuropsychological examination took place on a mobile unit and the tests were given by the same team of neuropsychologists to reduce variability among examiners. The Research Project was known as Progetto Memoria. Corrections to the scores of these tests were calculated for age, sex, and education. These corrected values will allow clinicians to screen for memory impairment with greater precision among normally aging individuals, thus improving differential diagnosis between physiologic and pathologic deterioration of cognitive functions.

Vocabulary and Working Memory in Children Fit with Hearing Aids

Science.gov (United States)

Stiles, Derek J.; McGregor, Karla K.; Bentler, Ruth A.

2012-01-01

Purpose: To determine whether children with mild-to-moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (CHL) present with disturbances in working memory and whether these disturbances relate to the size of their receptive vocabularies. Method: Children 6 to 9 years of age participated. Aspects of working memory were tapped by articulation rate, forward…

Processing Efficiency in Preschoolers' Memory Span: Individual Differences Related to Age and Anxiety

Science.gov (United States)

Visu-Petra, Laura; Miclea, Mircea; Cheie, Lavinia; Benga, Oana

2009-01-01

In self-paced auditory memory span tasks, the microanalysis of response timing measures represents a developmentally sensitive measure, providing insights into the development of distinct processing rates during recall performance. The current study first examined the effects of age and trait anxiety on span accuracy (effectiveness) and response…

Learning to remember: Cognitive training-induced attenuation of age-related memory decline depends on sex and cognitive demand, and can transfer to untrained cognitive domains

Science.gov (United States)

Talboom, Joshua S.; West, Stephen G.; Engler-Chiurazzi, Elizabeth B.; Enders, Craig K.; Crain, Ian; Bimonte-Nelson, Heather A.

2014-01-01

Aging is associated with progressive changes in learning and memory. A potential approach to attenuate age-related cognitive decline is cognitive training. In this study, adult male and female rats were given either repeated exposure to a T-maze, or no exposure to any maze, and then tested on a final battery of cognitive tasks. Two groups of each sex were tested from 6-18 months old on the same T-maze; one group received a version testing spatial reference memory, and the other group received only the procedural testing components with minimal cognitive demand. Groups three and four of each sex had no maze exposure until the final battery, and were comprised of aged or young rats. The final maze battery included the practiced T-maze plus two novel tasks, one with a similar, and one with a different, memory type to the practice task. The fifth group of each sex was not maze tested, serving as an aged control for the effects of maze testing on neurotrophin protein levels in cognitive brain regions. Results showed that adult intermittent cognitive training enhanced performance on the practice task when aged in both sexes, that cognitive training benefits transferred to novel tasks only in females, and that cognitive demand was necessary for these effects since rats receiving only the procedural testing components showed no improvement on the final maze battery. Further, for both sexes, rats that showed faster learning when young demonstrated better memory when aged. Age-related increases in neurotrophin concentrations in several brain regions were revealed, which was related to performance on the training task only in females. This longitudinal study supports the tenet that cognitive training can help one remember later in life, with broader enhancements and associations with neurotrophins in females. PMID:25104561

Robust and enduring atorvastatin-mediated memory recovery following the 4-vessel occlusion/internal carotid artery model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in middle-aged rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaghi, Gislene Gonçalves Dias; Godinho, Jacqueline; Ferreira, Emilene Dias Fiuza; Ribeiro, Matheus Henrique Dal Molin; Previdelli, Isolde Santos; de Oliveira, Rúbia Maria Weffort; Milani, Humberto

2016-02-04

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) is a common condition associated with the development and/or worsening of age-related dementia.We previously reported persistent memory loss and neurodegeneration after CCH in middle-aged rats. Statin-mediated neuroprotection has been reported after acute cerebral ischemia. Unknown, however, is whether statins can alleviate the outcome of CCH. The present study investigated whether atorvastatin attenuates the cognitive and neurohistological outcome of CCH. Rats (12–15 months old) were trained in a non-food-rewarded radial maze, and then subjected to CCH. Atorvastatin (10 mg/kg, p.o.) was administered for 42 days or 15 days, beginning 5 h after the first occlusion stage. Retrograde memory performance was assessed at 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 days of CCH, and expressed by “latency,” “number of reference memory errors” and “number of working memory errors.” Neurodegeneration was then examined at the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Compared to sham, CCH caused profound and persistent memory loss in the vehicle-treated groups, as indicated by increased latency (91.2% to 107.3%) and number of errors (123.5% to 2508.2%), effects from which the animals did not spontaneously recover across time. This CCH-induced retrograde amnesia was completely prevented by atorvastatin (latency: −4.3% to 3.3%; reference/working errors: −2.5% to 45.7%), regardless of the treatment duration. This effect was sustained during the entire behavioral testing period (5 weeks), even after discontinuing treatment. This robust and sustained memory-protective effect of atorvastatin occurred in the absence of neuronal rescue (39.58% to 56.45% cell loss). We suggest that atorvastatin may be promising for the treatment of cognitive sequelae associated with CCH.

Aging well: Processing speed inhibition and working memory related to balance and aerobic endurance.

Science.gov (United States)

Zettel-Watson, Laura; Suen, Meagan; Wehbe, Lara; Rutledge, Dana N; Cherry, Barbara J

2017-01-01

The present study explored whether certain physical performance measures could be linked to specific cognitive domains in healthy older adults. A total of 50 adults (mean age 69.5 years, SD 8.1) were evaluated on physical performance using measures of balance (Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale), functional mobility (8-ft up-and-go), lower body strength (30-s chair stand), gait (30-ft walk velocity) and aerobic endurance (6-min walk). Cognitive measures included Stroop Color-Word Test, Digit Span Backward, Trail Making Tests, Everyday Problems Test, Digit Symbol Substitution and a Brown-Peterson test. Principal component analyses reduced cognition to domains of processing speed, inhibition and working memory. Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out with age and each physical measure as potential predictors of the three cognitive domains. The balance scale and 6-min walk were specifically associated with processing speed, inhibition and working memory. Better dynamic balance and aerobic endurance predicted enhanced processing speed, inhibition and working memory in older adults, with these last two domains considered components of executive function. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 108-115. © 2015 Japan Geriatrics Society.

Age Differences in Selective Memory of Goal-Relevant Stimuli Under Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Durbin, Kelly A; Clewett, David; Huang, Ringo; Mather, Mara

2018-02-01

When faced with threat, people often selectively focus on and remember the most pertinent information while simultaneously ignoring any irrelevant information. Filtering distractors under arousal requires inhibitory mechanisms, which take time to recruit and often decline in older age. Despite the adaptive nature of this ability, relatively little research has examined how both threat and time spent preparing these inhibitory mechanisms affect selective memory for goal-relevant information across the life span. In this study, 32 younger and 31 older adults were asked to encode task-relevant scenes, while ignoring transparent task-irrelevant objects superimposed onto them. Threat levels were increased on some trials by threatening participants with monetary deductions if they later forgot scenes that followed threat cues. We also varied the time between threat induction and a to-be-encoded scene (i.e., 2 s, 4 s, 6 s) to determine whether both threat and timing effects on memory selectivity differ by age. We found that age differences in memory selectivity only emerged after participants spent a long time (i.e., 6 s) preparing for selective encoding. Critically, this time-dependent age difference occurred under threatening, but not neutral, conditions. Under threat, longer preparation time led to enhanced memory for task-relevant scenes and greater memory suppression of task-irrelevant objects in younger adults. In contrast, increased preparation time after threat induction had no effect on older adults' scene memory and actually worsened memory suppression of task-irrelevant objects. These findings suggest that increased time to prepare top-down encoding processes benefits younger, but not older, adults' selective memory for goal-relevant information under threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Hearing aid fitting in older persons with hearing impairment: the influence of cognitive function, age, and hearing loss on hearing aid benefit.

Science.gov (United States)

Meister, Hartmut; Rählmann, Sebastian; Walger, Martin; Margolf-Hackl, Sabine; Kießling, Jürgen

2015-01-01

To examine the association of cognitive function, age, and hearing loss with clinically assessed hearing aid benefit in older hearing-impaired persons. Hearing aid benefit was assessed using objective measures regarding speech recognition in quiet and noisy environments as well as a subjective measure reflecting everyday situations captured using a standardized questionnaire. A broad range of general cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and intelligence were determined using different neuropsychological tests. Linear regression analyses were conducted with the outcome of the neuropsychological tests as well as age and hearing loss as independent variables and the benefit measures as dependent variables. Thirty experienced older hearing aid users with typical age-related hearing impairment participated. Most of the benefit measures revealed that the participants obtained significant improvement with their hearing aids. Regression models showed a significant relationship between a fluid intelligence measure and objective hearing aid benefit. When individual hearing thresholds were considered as an additional independent variable, hearing loss was the only significant contributor to the benefit models. Lower cognitive capacity - as determined by the fluid intelligence measure - was significantly associated with greater hearing loss. Subjective benefit could not be predicted by any of the variables considered. The present study does not give evidence that hearing aid benefit is critically associated with cognitive function in experienced hearing aid users. However, it was found that lower fluid intelligence scores were related to higher hearing thresholds. Since greater hearing loss was associated with a greater objective benefit, these results strongly support the advice of using hearing aids regardless of age and cognitive function to counter hearing loss and the adverse effects of age-related hearing impairment. Still, individual cognitive capacity might

Dietary lipids are differentially associated with hippocampal-dependent relational memory in prepubescent children.

Science.gov (United States)

Baym, Carol L; Khan, Naiman A; Monti, Jim M; Raine, Lauren B; Drollette, Eric S; Moore, R Davis; Scudder, Mark R; Kramer, Arthur F; Hillman, Charles H; Cohen, Neal J

2014-05-01

Studies in rodents and older humans have shown that the hippocampus-a brain structure critical to relational/associative memory-has remarkable plasticity as a result of lifestyle factors (eg, exercise). However, the effect of dietary intake on hippocampal-dependent memory during childhood has remained unexamined. We investigated the cross-sectional relation of dietary components characteristic of the Western diet, including saturated fatty acids (SFAs), omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids, and refined sugar, with hippocampal-dependent relational memory in prepubescent children. Participants aged 7-9 y (n = 52) reported their dietary intake by using the Youth-Adolescent Food-Frequency Questionnaire and completed memory tasks designed to assess relational (hippocampal-dependent) and item (hippocampal-independent) memory. Performance on the memory tasks was assessed with both direct (accuracy) and indirect (eye movement) measures. Partial correlations adjusted for body mass index showed a positive relation between relational memory accuracy and intake of omega-3 fatty acids and a negative relation of both relational and item memory accuracy with intake of SFAs. Potential confounding factors of age, sex, intelligence quotient, socioeconomic status, pubertal timing, and aerobic fitness (maximal oxygen volume) were not significantly related to any of the dietary intake measures. Eye movement measures of relational memory (preferential viewing to the target stimulus) showed a negative relation with intake of added sugar. SFA intake was negatively associated with both forms of memory, whereas omega-3 fatty acid intake was selectively positively associated with hippocampal-dependent relational memory. These findings are among the first to show a link between habitual dietary intake and cognitive health as pertaining to hippocampal function in childhood. The Fitness Improves Thinking Kids (FITKids) and FITKids2 trials were registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01334359 and NCT

Watching TV news as a memory task -- brain activation and age effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frings Lars

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Neuroimaging studies which investigate brain activity underlying declarative memory processes typically use artificial, unimodal laboratory stimuli. In contrast, we developed a paradigm which much more closely approximates real-life situations of information encoding. Methods In this study, we tested whether ecologically valid stimuli - clips of a TV news show - are apt to assess memory-related fMRI activation in healthy participants across a wide age range (22-70 years. We contrasted brain responses during natural stimulation (TV news video clips with a control condition (scrambled versions of the same clips with reversed audio tracks. After scanning, free recall performance was assessed. Results The memory task evoked robust activation of a left-lateralized network, including primarily lateral temporal cortex, frontal cortex, as well as the left hippocampus. Further analyses revealed that - when controlling for performance effects - older age was associated with greater activation of left temporal and right frontal cortex. Conclusion We demonstrate the feasibility of assessing brain activity underlying declarative memory using a natural stimulation paradigm with high ecological validity. The preliminary result of greater brain activation with increasing age might reflect an attempt to compensate for decreasing episodic memory capacity associated with aging.

Examining the Relative Contribution of Memory Updating, Attention Focus Switching, and Sustained Attention to Children’s Verbal Working Memory Span