scholarly journals Aging and the encoding of event changes: The role of neural activity pattern reinstatement

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Stawarczyk ◽  
Christopher N. Wahlheim ◽  
Joset A. Etzel ◽  
Abraham Z. Snyder ◽  
Jeffrey M. Zacks
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Activity Pattern ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Original Activity ◽  
Medial Cortex ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Past Experiences

AbstractWhen encountering unexpected event changes, memories of relevant past experiences must be updated to form new representations. Current models of memory updating propose that people must first generate memory-based predictions to detect and register that features of the environment have changed, then encode the new event features and integrate them with relevant memories of past experiences to form configural memory representations. Each of these steps may be impaired in older adults. Using functional MRI, we investigated these mechanisms in healthy young and older adults. In the scanner, participants first watched a movie depicting everyday activities in a day of an actor’s life. They next watched a second nearly identical movie in which some scenes ended differently. Crucially, before watching the last part of each activity, the second movie stopped, and participants were asked to mentally replay how the activity previously ended. Three days later, participants were asked to recall the activities. Neural activity pattern reinstatement in medial temporal lobe (MTL) during the replay phase of the second movie was associated with detecting changes and with better memory for the original activity features. Reinstatements in posterior medial cortex (PMC) additionally predicted better memory for changed features. Compared to young adults, older adults showed a reduced ability to detect and remember changes, and weaker associations between reinstatement and memory performance. These findings suggest that PMC and MTL contribute to change processing by reinstating previous event features, and that older adults are less able to use reinstatement to update memory for changed features.

scholarly journals Aging and the encoding of changes in events: The role of neural activity pattern reinstatement

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (47) ◽  
pp. 29346-29353 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Stawarczyk ◽  
Christopher N. Wahlheim ◽  
Joset A. Etzel ◽  
Abraham Z. Snyder ◽  
Jeffrey M. Zacks
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Activity Pattern ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Original Activity ◽  
Medial Cortex ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Past Experiences

When encountering unexpected event changes, memories of relevant past experiences must be updated to form new representations. Current models of memory updating propose that people must first generate memory-based predictions to detect and register that features of the environment have changed, then encode the new event features and integrate them with relevant memories of past experiences to form configural memory representations. Each of these steps may be impaired in older adults. Using functional MRI, we investigated these mechanisms in healthy young and older adults. In the scanner, participants first watched a movie depicting everyday activities in a day of an actor’s life. They next watched a second nearly identical movie in which some scenes ended differently. Crucially, before watching the last part of each activity, the second movie stopped, and participants were asked to mentally replay how the activity previously ended. Three days later, participants were asked to recall the activities. Neural activity pattern reinstatement in medial temporal lobe (MTL) during the replay phase of the second movie was associated with detecting changes and with better memory for the original activity features. Reinstatements in posterior medial cortex (PMC) additionally predicted better memory for changed features. Compared to young adults, older adults showed a reduced ability to detect and remember changes and weaker associations between reinstatement and memory performance. These findings suggest that PMC and MTL contribute to change processing by reinstating previous event features, and that older adults are less able to use reinstatement to update memory for changed features.

scholarly journals A-48 The Role of Processing Speed in Verbal and Nonverbal Learning within a Clinical Sample of Older Adults.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 907-907
Author(s):  
N Hawley ◽  
H Brunet ◽  
J Miller
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Adult Intelligence Scale ◽  
Nonverbal Learning ◽  
Learning Trials

Abstract Objective Prior research revealed that processing speed predicts nonverbal learning in healthy older adults (Tam & Schmitter-Edgecombe, 2013). This study aims to examine the role of processing speed in both verbal and nonverbal learning in a clinical sample. We expect that processing speed will lend the most variance to the initial learning trials. Method Records from 718 patients were reviewed (mean age = 74). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using Brief Visuospatial Memory Test –Revised (BVMT-R) and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test –Revised (HVLT-R) learning trials as outcome variables. Demographics were entered in a first step followed by BVMT-R copy or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) Digit Span –longest digit span forward raw score, to account for visuoconstruction or simple auditory attention for nonverbal and verbal learning outcomes respectively. A processing speed composite of sample-standardized raw scores was entered in a final step. Results Processing speed accounted for 5.4% of the variance in BVMT-R trial 1, 7.5% of the variance in trial 2, and 8.5% of the variance in trial 3, all p < .001. Processing speed accounted for 6.6% of the variance in HVLT-R trial 1, 11.1% of the variance in trial 2, and 11.5% of the variance in trial 3, all p < .001. Conclusions Processing speed significantly predicted all verbal and nonverbal learning trials. Contrary to our hypotheses, processing speed actually had a greater contribution during subsequent learning trials. These findings have implications for evaluating memory performance in patients with syndromes where processing speed is typically affected (e.g., cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease).

Strategy Use Mediates the Relation between Openness to Experience and Episodic Memory in Younger and Older Adults

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412098193
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Talpain ◽  
Andrea Soubelet
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Openness To Experience ◽  
Retrospective Memory ◽  
Memory Strategies ◽  
Memory Strategy ◽  
Efficient Memory

Previous research has shown that people with higher levels of Openness to Experience show higher levels of cognitive functioning. However, the mechanisms underlying this personality-cognition relation are not well understood. The goal of the current project was to examine whether strategy use mediates the relation between Openness to experience and retrospective memory, and whether the role of strategy use in the Openness-memory relation was the same in younger and older adults. Method: Two studies were conducted. In each of them, younger and older adults were administered a retrospective memory task (29 younger and 27 older in Study 1, 43 adults of all ages in Study 2). They were asked to report the strategies they used during the task, and to complete an Openness to Experience scale. Results: Consistent with previous reports, higher scores of Openness to experience and greater use of efficient memory strategies were associated with higher levels of memory performance. In addition, individual differences in memory strategy use mostly mediated the relation between Openness and memory performance. Results did not support a mediation model moderated by age. That is, the role of memory strategy use in the relation between Openness and memory was the same in younger and older adults. Conclusion: Higher levels of Openness are associated with better memory performance, mostly because people with higher levels of Openness use more efficient memory strategies.

scholarly journals Specific responses of human hippocampal neurons are associated with better memory

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (33) ◽  
pp. 10503-10508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanthia A. Suthana ◽  
Neelroop N. Parikshak ◽  
Arne D. Ekstrom ◽  
Matias J. Ison ◽  
Barbara J. Knowlton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Hippocampal Neurons ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Target Image ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Human Hippocampus ◽  
Individual Concepts ◽  
With Memory

A population of human hippocampal neurons has shown responses to individual concepts (e.g., Jennifer Aniston) that generalize to different instances of the concept. However, recordings from the rodent hippocampus suggest an important function of these neurons is their ability to discriminate overlapping representations, or pattern separate, a process that may facilitate discrimination of similar events for successful memory. In the current study, we explored whether human hippocampal neurons can also demonstrate the ability to discriminate between overlapping representations and whether this selectivity could be directly related to memory performance. We show that among medial temporal lobe (MTL) neurons, certain populations of neurons are selective for a previously studied (target) image in that they show a significant decrease in firing rate to very similar (lure) images. We found that a greater proportion of these neurons can be found in the hippocampus compared with other MTL regions, and that memory for individual items is correlated to the degree of selectivity of hippocampal neurons responsive to those items. Moreover, a greater proportion of hippocampal neurons showed selective firing for target images in good compared with poor performers, with overall memory performance correlated with hippocampal selectivity. In contrast, selectivity in other MTL regions was not associated with memory performance. These findings show that a substantial proportion of human hippocampal neurons encode specific memories that support the discrimination of overlapping representations. These results also provide previously unidentified evidence consistent with a unique role of the human hippocampus in orthogonalization of representations in declarative memory.

The role of time-monitoring behaviour in time-based prospective memory performance in younger and older adults

Memory ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
Giovanna Mioni ◽  
Simon Grondin ◽  
Skye N. McLennan ◽  
Franca Stablum
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Prospective Memory Performance

scholarly journals Neural Activity in the Hippocampus and Perirhinal Cortex during Encoding Is Associated with the Durability of Episodic Memory

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 2652-2662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie A. Carr ◽  
Indre V. Viskontas ◽  
Stephen A. Engel ◽  
Barbara J. Knowlton
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Perirhinal Cortex ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Short Delay ◽  
Parahippocampal Cortex ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Subsequent Memory Effect

Studies examining medial temporal lobe (MTL) involvement in memory formation typically assess memory performance after a single, short delay. Thus, the relationship between MTL encoding activity and memory durability over time remains poorly characterized. To explore this relationship, we scanned participants using high-resolution functional imaging of the MTL as they encoded object pairs; using the remember/know paradigm, we then assessed memory performance for studied items both 10 min and 1 week later. Encoding trials were classified as either subsequently recollected across both delays, transiently recollected (i.e., recollected at 10 min but not after 1 week), consistently familiar, or consistently forgotten. Activity in perirhinal cortex (PRC) and a hippocampal subfield comprising the dentate gyrus and CA fields 2 and 3 reflected successful encoding only when items were recollected consistently across both delays. Furthermore, in PRC, encoding activity for items that later were consistently recollected was significantly greater than that for transiently recollected and consistently familiar items. Parahippocampal cortex, in contrast, showed a subsequent memory effect during encoding of items that were recollected after 10 min, regardless of whether they also were recollected after 1 week. These data suggest that MTL subfields contribute uniquely to the formation of memories that endure over time, and highlight a role for PRC in supporting subsequent durable episodic recollection.

Effectiveness of Self-Generated Cues in Younger and Older Adults: The Role of Retention Interval

1988 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Bäckman ◽  
Timo Mäntylä
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Retention Interval ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Immediate Recall ◽  
High Level

Younger and older participants generated one or three properties to a set of forty nouns. Immediately after, one week after, or three weeks after this generation phase, the participants received an incidental recall test, in which they were cued with their self-generated properties, and requested to recall the nouns. Although the younger adults recalled more nouns than the older participants in all conditions, both age groups exhibited an extremely high level of immediate recall. In addition, younger and older adults did not differ with respect to the forgetting rate, and both age groups recalled more nouns when three, as compared to one, properties were provided as cues. It is suggested that cue effectiveness is optimized both for younger and older adults when the cues describing the information encoded are compatible and distinctive. Finally, it is emphasized that the individual's idiosyncratic knowledge may serve an important function in attempts at optimizing memory performance of elderly people.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document