Proper names from story recall are associated with beta-amyloid in cognitively unimpaired adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease

Due to advances in the early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers including beta-amyloid (Aβ), neuropsychological measures that are sensitive to concurrent, subtle changes in cognition are critically needed. Story recall tasks have shown sensitivity to early memory declines in persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment and early stage dementia, as well as in persons with autosomal dominantly inherited AD up to 10 years prior to a dementia diagnosis. However, the evidence is inconclusive regarding relationships between evidence of Aβ and story recall measures. Because story recall tasks require the encoding and delayed retrieval of several lexical-semantic categories, such as proper names, verbs, and numerical expressions, and because lexical categories have been shown to be differentially impaired in persons with MCI, we focused on item-level analyses of lexical-semantic retrieval from a quintessential story recall task, Logical Memory from the Wechsler Memory Scale. Our objective was to investigate whether delayed recall of lexical categories (proper names, verbs and/or numerical expressions), as well as the traditional total score measure, was associated with 'preclinical AD,' or cognitively unimpaired adults with positive Aβ deposition on positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging using Pittsburgh Compound B. We developed an item-level scoring system, in which we parsed items into lexical categories and examined the immediate and delayed recall of these lexical categories from 217 cognitively unimpaired participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention. We performed binary logistic regression models with story recall score as predictor and Aβ status (positive/negative) as the outcome. Using baseline Logical Memory data, proper names from delayed story recall were significantly associated with Aβ status, such that participants who recalled more proper names were less likely to be classified as PiB(+) (odds ratio = .58, p=.01). None of the other story recall variables, including total score, were associated with PiB status. Secondary analyses determined that immediate recall of proper names was not significantly associated with Aβ, suggesting a retrieval deficit rather than that of encoding. The present findings suggest that lexical semantic retrieval measures from existing story recall tasks may be sensitive to Aβ deposition, and may provide added utility to a widely-used, long-standing neuropsychological test for early detection of cognitive decline on the AD continuum.

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Proper names from story recall are associated with beta-amyloid in cognitively unimpaired adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease

Cortex ◽

10.1016/j.cortex.2020.07.008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 131 ◽

pp. 137-150 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kimberly D. Mueller ◽

Rebecca L. Koscik ◽

Lianlian Du ◽

Davide Bruno ◽

Erin M. Jonaitis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

At Risk ◽

Proper Names ◽

Beta Amyloid ◽

Story Recall

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Women have Farther to Fall: Gender Differences Between Normal Elderly and Alzheimer's Disease in Verbal Memory Engender Better Detection of Alzheimer's Disease in Women

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617711000452 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 654-662 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Robert M. Chapman ◽

Mark Mapstone ◽

Margaret N. Gardner ◽

Tiffany C. Sandoval ◽

John W. McCrary ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Gender Differences ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Control Group ◽

Large Drop ◽

Delayed Recall ◽

Logical Memory ◽

Wechsler Memory Scale ◽

Immediate Recall

AbstractWe analyzed verbal episodic memory learning and recall using the Logical Memory (LM) subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III to determine how gender differences in AD compare to those seen in normal elderly and whether or not these differences impact assessment of AD. We administered the LM to both an AD and a Control group, each comprised of 21 men and 21 women, and found a large drop in performance from normal elders to AD. Of interest was a gender interaction whereby the women's scores dropped 1.6 times more than the men's did. Control women on average outperformed Control men on every aspect of the test, including immediate recall, delayed recall, and learning. Conversely, AD women tended to perform worse than AD men. Additionally, the LM achieved perfect diagnostic accuracy in discriminant analysis of AD versus Control women, a statistically significantly higher result than for men. The results indicate the LM is a more powerful and reliable tool in detecting AD in women than in men. (JINS, 2011, 17, 654–662)

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An item-level analysis of lexical-semantic effects in free recall and recognition memory using the megastudy approach

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021817739834 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (10) ◽

pp. 2207-2222 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mabel C Lau ◽

Winston D Goh ◽

Melvin J Yap

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Recognition Memory ◽

Recognition Performance ◽

Memory Task ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

Forward Selection ◽

Unique Variance ◽

Lexical Semantic ◽

Item Level ◽

Semantic Variables

Psycholinguists have developed a number of measures to tap different aspects of a word’s semantic representation. The influence of these measures on lexical processing has collectively been described as semantic richness effects. However, the effects of these word properties on memory are currently not well understood. This study examines the relative contributions of lexical and semantic variables in free recall and recognition memory at the item-level, using a megastudy approach. Hierarchical regression of recall and recognition performance on a number of lexical-semantic variables showed task-general effects where the structural component, frequency, number of senses, and arousal accounted for unique variance in both free recall and recognition memory. Task-specific effects included number of features, imageability, and body–object interaction, which accounted for unique variance in recall, whereas age of acquisition, familiarity, and extremity of valence accounted for unique variance in recognition. Forward selection regression analyses generally converged on these findings. Hierarchical regression also revealed that lexical variables accounted for more variance in recognition compared with recall, whereas semantic variables accounted for more unique variance above and beyond lexical variables in recall compared with recognition. Implications of the findings are discussed.

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Memory score discrepancies by healthy middle-aged and older individuals: The contributions of age and education

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617709990580 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 15 (6) ◽

pp. 963-972 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

ALEXANDRA ECONOMOU

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Older Persons ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Delayed Recall ◽

Logical Memory ◽

Age Related ◽

The Difference ◽

Education Groups ◽

Effect Of Age

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine discrepancies between immediate/delayed recall and recall/working memory in middle-aged and older persons by age and education. Participants were 322 healthy individuals from the community who were stratified into three age and three education groups. Immediate and delayed recall distributions of WMS-III Logical Memory (LM) scores approximated normal curves, and LM savings scores showed a significant, but small, effect of age. LM (immediate, delayed) and Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS) discrepancies varied as a function of age and education. The difference between LM and LNS was not significant in the younger and less educated participants, but increased with age in the most educated group, and in the oldest group LNS exceeded LM (immediate and delayed). The results indicate deterioration in encoding and retrieval, rather than storage, with age, and show a differential, but small, effect of age and education on the memory measures. Working memory was resistant to age-related decline relative to immediate and delayed recall in the oldest, most educated group. Delayed recall–working memory discrepancy is relatively stable with age and education and may be a useful index of the onset of memory pathology across different ages and levels of education.(JINS, 2009,15, 963–972.)

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O3-03-05: PROPER NOUNS FROM STORY RECALL ARE ASSOCIATED WITH BETA-AMYLOID IN COGNITIVELY UNIMPAIRED ADULTS

Alzheimer s & Dementia ◽

10.1016/j.jalz.2019.06.4640 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

pp. P884-P885 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kimberly D. Mueller ◽

Rebecca L. Koscik ◽

Davide Bruno ◽

Erin Jonaitis ◽

Audra Z. Koscik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Beta Amyloid ◽

Story Recall ◽

Proper Nouns

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A Common Neural Substrate for Language Production and Verbal Working Memory

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2010.21519 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 23 (6) ◽

pp. 1358-1367 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

Daniel J. Acheson ◽

Massihullah Hamidi ◽

Jeffrey R. Binder ◽

Bradley R. Postle

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Language Production ◽

Alternative Hypothesis ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Error Rates ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Phonological Encoding ◽

Semantic Retrieval ◽

Retrieval Task ◽

Lexical Semantic

Verbal working memory (VWM), the ability to maintain and manipulate representations of speech sounds over short periods, is held by some influential models to be independent from the systems responsible for language production and comprehension [e.g., Baddeley, A. D. Working memory, thought, and action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007]. We explore the alternative hypothesis that maintenance in VWM is subserved by temporary activation of the language production system [Acheson, D. J., & MacDonald, M. C. Verbal working memory and language production: Common approaches to the serial ordering of verbal information. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 50–68, 2009b]. Specifically, we hypothesized that for stimuli lacking a semantic representation (e.g., nonwords such as mun), maintenance in VWM can be achieved by cycling information back and forth between the stages of phonological encoding and articulatory planning. First, fMRI was used to identify regions associated with two different stages of language production planning: the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) for phonological encoding (critical for VWM of nonwords) and the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) for lexical–semantic retrieval (not critical for VWM of nonwords). Next, in the same subjects, these regions were targeted with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) during language production and VWM task performance. Results showed that rTMS to the pSTG, but not the MTG, increased error rates on paced reading (a language production task) and on delayed serial recall of nonwords (a test of VWM). Performance on a lexical–semantic retrieval task (picture naming), in contrast, was significantly sensitive to rTMS of the MTG. Because rTMS was guided by language production-related activity, these results provide the first causal evidence that maintenance in VWM directly depends on the long-term representations and processes used in speech production.

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PET-imaging of Cerebral Glucose Metabolism and of Cerebral Beta-amyloid-deposition and Its Value for the Understanding, Early Detection and Differential Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(15)31823-x ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 25

Author(s):

A. Gietl

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Differential Diagnosis ◽

Glucose Metabolism ◽

Early Detection ◽

Pet Imaging ◽

Beta Amyloid ◽

Amyloid Deposition ◽

Cerebral Glucose Metabolism

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A-61 * Four-Hour Delayed Recall of Logical Memory

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acu038.61 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 29 (6) ◽

pp. 525-526

Author(s):

R. Ladowsky-Brooks

Keyword(s):

Delayed Recall ◽

Logical Memory

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The Edinburgh Cohort of HIV-Positive Drug Users: Pattern of Cognitive Impairment in Relation to Progression of Disease

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.161.4.522 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 161 (4) ◽

pp. 522-531 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Vincent Egan ◽

Ray P. Brettle ◽

Guy M. Goodwin

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Function ◽

Drug Users ◽

Block Design ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Stage Iv ◽

Memory Test ◽

Clinical Staging ◽

Hiv Positive ◽

Delayed Recall ◽

Logical Memory

To examine the neuropsychiatric effects of infection with HIV, 220 drug users (27 HIV negative, 193 HIV positive) completed tests evaluating premorbid intelligence, memory, non-verbal performance, information processing speed, and mood. When these measures were compared cross-sectionally by the severity of HIV illness, symptomatic patients (in CDC stage IV) were impaired on Trails B, two-choice decision time, delayed recall of the Wechsler Logical Memory Test and most components of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test. These findings imply reduced capacity for concentration, speed of thought and memory. When 101 patients were retested a mean of 16 months after their initial assessment, performance on Trails A and B, Block Design and delayed recall of the Wechsler Logical Memory Test deteriorated more for patients at, or progressing within, CDC stage IV, than performance of patients at stage III. The results broadly correspond to the cross-sectional findings. However, there was a decline in all tests of memory function for the sample independent of clinical staging. This may be evidence of brain involvement before the appearance of other symptoms. Self-rated measures of mood did not change cross-sectionally, progressively, or interactively with time and stage of HIV illness, and cannot account for the changes in cognitive function observed. Change in drug use, similarly, does not account for the cognitive findings. Four (5%) of the retested subjects developed AIDS dementia complex, but most of the performance and memory impairments seen were subclinical despite the destructive neuropathology presumed to underlie intellectual decline in patients with HIV infection. An exploratory analysis of treatment with zidovudine in 65 patients with stage IV disease showed no demonstrable benefit for cognitive function.

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