Mild behavioral impairment as a predictor of cognitive functioning in older adults

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the influence of mild behavioral impairment (MBI) on the cognitive performance of older adults who are cognitively healthy or have mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Secondary data analysis of a sample (n = 497) of older adults from the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center who were either cognitively healthy (n = 285) or diagnosed with MCI (n = 212). Over half of the sample (n = 255) met the operationalized diagnostic criteria for MBI. Cognitive domains of executive function, attention, short-term memory, and episodic memory were assessed using a battery of neuropsychological tests. Results: Older adults with MBI performed worse on tasks of executive function, attention, and episodic memory compared to those without MBI. A significant interaction revealed that persons with MBI and MCI performed worse on tasks of episodic memory compared to individuals with only MCI, but no significant differences were found in performance in cognitively healthy older adults with or without MBI on this cognitive domain. As expected, cognitively healthy older adults performed better than individuals with MCI on every domain of cognition. Conclusions: The present study found evidence that independent of cognitive status, individuals with MBI performed worse on tests of executive function, attention, and episodic memory than individuals without MBI. Additionally, those with MCI and MBI perform significantly worse on episodic memory tasks than individuals with only MCI. These results provide support for a unique cognitive phenotype associated with MBI and highlight the necessity for assessing both cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

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MILD BEHAVIORAL IMPAIRMENT AS A PREDICTOR OF COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING IN OLDER ADULTS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.1739 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S466-S466

Author(s):

Hillary J Rouse ◽

Brent J Small ◽

John Schinka

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Executive Function ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Psychiatric Symptoms ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Future Research ◽

Behavioral Impairment ◽

Affective Dysregulation ◽

Transitional State

Abstract Background: Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) is considered to be a late life transitional state between normal aging and dementia that describes individuals who have persistent behavioral changes and/or psychiatric symptoms. Individuals with MBI are found to be at greater risk of dementia compared to those without these symptoms. Identifying how MBI might relate to different domains of cognition is of key importance, as it could be an early indicator of a future dementia diagnoses. Method: Secondary data analysis of a sample (n=512) of older adults from the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center who were either cognitively healthy or presenting with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Some individuals presented with MBI, as defined by decreased motivation, affective dysregulation, impulse dyscontrol, social inappropriateness, or abnormal perception/thought content. Executive function, attention, short-term memory, and episodic memory, were compared using a battery of neuropsychological assessments. Results: Individuals with MCI performed worse on all tasks across all cognitive domains, where individuals with MBI performed worse on several tasks associated with executive function, attention, and episodic memory. Compared to individuals with only MCI, individuals with MCI and MBI performed significantly worse on tasks associated with executive function and episodic memory. Conclusion: The present study found evidence that individuals with MBI will perform worse on tasks of executive function, attention, and episodic memory. Further, those with MCI and MBI will perform significantly worse on executive function and episodic memory tasks. Future research should explore if these findings can help to predict specific dementia diagnoses.

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Evaluation of Episodic and Lexical Metamemory and Executive Function in Healthy Older Adults

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.2618 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 704-705

Author(s):

Atsuko Hayashi

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Executive Function ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Task ◽

Lexical Memory ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Self Evaluation ◽

Age Related

Abstract In older adults, it is important to maintain awareness of memory as well as memory performance. However, it is not clear whether the awareness of episodic and lexical memory changes with age and is related to self-evaluation of memory and executive function. Here age-related changes and the relationship between metamemory, executive function, and metamemory scale were investigated. Healthy old (n=40) and young (n=34) groups participated in this study. In the episodic memory task, participants were asked to memorize ten Kanji words and to estimate the number of words they could recall after ten minutes. In the lexical memory task, they rated the likelihood that they could write a target Kanji word written in hiragana and then wrote them down. They were also asked to complete the metamemory in adulthood(MIA) and the position stroop task. In the episodic and lexical memory and the position stroop task and MIA subscales, the performances of the younger group were significantly better than those of the older group. In the episodic memory task, there were correlations between the metamemory and MIA subscales in both groups, but in the lexical memory task, only in the old group. No correlation was found between the results of both memory tasks and the stroop test. These results suggest that older people overestimate memory performances in the episodic and lexical memory tasks and metamemory performances may be associated with self-evaluation of memory. In addition, metamemory might not be related to frontal lobe function as shown in executive function tasks.

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The cognitive and neuroanatomical underpinnings of destination memory

Translational Neuroscience ◽

10.2478/s13380-014-0219-5 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mohamad Haj ◽

Philippe Allain ◽

Roy Kessels

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Older Adults ◽

Executive Function ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Present Review ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Destination Memory ◽

The Subject ◽

Comprehensive Framework ◽

Shed Light

AbstractThe ability to remember the destination to whom a piece of information has been addressed (e.g., did I tell you about the weekend?) has been labelled destination memory. Although this topic has been relatively scarcely studied, recent studies support the notion that destination recall can be the subject of important distortions in healthy younger and older adults and in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. This research also links destination recall to several cognitive domains such as episodic memory, executive function, and self-referential processes (e.g., did I tell you about the weekend?). The present review aims to assemble these findings into a comprehensive framework and shed light onto potential neuroanatomical underpinnings of destination memory, thus providing a promising venue for future exploration and research.

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Investigating the Effects of Spacing on Working Memory Training Outcome: A Randomized, Controlled, Multisite Trial in Older Adults

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbz090 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 75 (6) ◽

pp. 1181-1192

Author(s):

Susanne M Jaeggi ◽

Martin Buschkuehl ◽

Chelsea M Parlett-Pelleriti ◽

Seung Min Moon ◽

Michelle Evans ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Domain ◽

Memory Training ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Effective Interventions ◽

Age Related ◽

Before And After

Abstract Objective The majority of the population will experience some cognitive decline with age. Therefore, the development of effective interventions to mitigate age-related decline is critical for older adults’ cognitive functioning and their quality of life. Methods In our randomized controlled multisite trial, we target participants’ working memory (WM) skills, and in addition, we focus on the intervention’s optimal scheduling in order to test whether and how the distribution of training sessions might affect task learning, and ultimately, transfer. Healthy older adults completed an intervention targeting either WM or general knowledge twice per day, once per day, or once every-other-day. Before and after the intervention and 3 months after training completion, participants were tested in a variety of cognitive domains, including those representing functioning in everyday life. Results In contrast to our hypotheses, spacing seems to affect learning only minimally. We did observe some transfer effects, especially within the targeted cognitive domain (WM and inhibition/interference), which remained stable at the 3-month follow-up. Discussion Our findings have practical implications by showing that the variation in training schedule, at least within the range used here, does not seem to be a crucial element for training benefits.

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Identifying Mild Cognitive Impairment by Using Human–Robot Interactions

Journal of Alzheimer s Disease ◽

10.3233/jad-215015 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Yu-Ling Chang ◽

Di-Hua Luo ◽

Tsung-Ren Huang ◽

Joshua O.S. Goh ◽

Su-Ling Yeh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Executive Function ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Prospective Memory ◽

Cognitive Status ◽

Screening Tools ◽

Cognitive Test ◽

Cognitive Tests

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is common in older adults, is a risk factor for dementia. Rapidly growing health care demand associated with global population aging has spurred the development of new digital tools for the assessment of cognitive performance in older adults. Objective: To overcome methodological drawbacks of previous studies (e.g., use of potentially imprecise screening tools that fail to include patients with MCI), this study investigated the feasibility of assessing multiple cognitive functions in older adults with and without MCI by using a social robot. Methods: This study included 33 older adults with or without MCI and 33 healthy young adults. We examined the utility of five robotic cognitive tests focused on language, episodic memory, prospective memory, and aspects of executive function to classify age-associated cognitive changes versus MCI. Standardized neuropsychological tests were collected to validate robotic test performance. Results: The assessment was well received by all participants. Robotic tests assessing delayed episodic memory, prospective memory, and aspects of executive function were optimal for differentiating between older adults with and without MCI, whereas the global cognitive test (i.e., Mini-Mental State Examination) failed to capture such subtle cognitive differences among older adults. Furthermore, robot-administered tests demonstrated sound ability to predict the results of standardized cognitive tests, even after adjustment for demographic variables and global cognitive status. Conclusion: Overall, our results suggest the human–robot interaction approach is feasible for MCI identification. Incorporating additional cognitive test measures might improve the stability and reliability of such robot-assisted MCI diagnoses.

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Exploring the effects of reminiscence therapy on memory, executive function, and mood in healthy older adults

10.26226/morressier.5b31ec3d2afeeb001345b628 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Allen ◽

Dr Richard Roche ◽

Caoilainn Doyle

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Executive Function ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Reminiscence Therapy

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Perception Versus Reality: Subjective and Objective Neighborhood Characteristics and Cognitive Function in REGARDS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2470 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 703-703

Author(s):

Jessica Finlay ◽

Philippa Clarke ◽

Lisa Barnes

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Racial Differences ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Well Being ◽

Daily Basis ◽

Cognitive Status ◽

Functional Mobility ◽

Neighborhood Size ◽

Regards Study

Abstract Does the world shrink as we age? The neighborhood captures a spatial area someone inhabits and moves through on a daily basis. It reflects a balance between internal perceptions and abilities, and the external environment which may enable or restrict participation in everyday life. We frequently hear that older adults have shrinking neighborhoods given declining functional mobility. This is associated with declines in physical and cognitive functioning, depression, poorer quality of life, and mortality. Knowledge of the interplay between objective and subjective neighborhood measurement remains limited. This symposium will explore these linked yet distinct constructs based on secondary data analyses of the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a racially diverse sample of 30,000+ aging Americans. Finlay investigates how someone’s perceived neighborhood size (in number of blocks) varies by individual and geographic characteristics including age, cognitive function, self-rated health, and urban/rural context. Esposito’s analyses focus on neighborhood size in relation to race and residential segregation. Clarke compares subjective perceptions of neighborhood parks and safety from crime to objective indicators, and examines variations by health and cognitive status. Barnes will critically consider implications for how older adults interpret and engage with their surrounding environments. The symposium questions the validity of neighborhood-based metrics to reflect the perspectives and experiences of older residents, particularly those navigating cognitive decline. It informs policy-making efforts to improve physical neighborhood environments and social community contexts, which are critical to the health and well-being of older adults aging in place.

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