scholarly journals Rey Visual Design Learning Test performance correlates with white matter structure

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Begré ◽  
Claus Kiefer ◽  
Roland von Känel ◽  
Angela Frommer ◽  
Andrea Federspiel
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Internal Capsule ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
Design Learning ◽  
Dorsal Hippocampal ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Learning Test

Objective:Studies exploring relation of visual memory to white matter are extensively lacking. The Rey Visual Design Learning Test (RVDLT) is an elementary motion, colour and word independent visual memory test. It avoids a significant contribution from as many additional higher order visual brain functions as possible to visual performance, such as three-dimensional, colour, motion or word-dependent brain operations. Based on previous results, we hypothesised that test performance would be related with white matter of dorsal hippocampal commissure, corpus callosum, posterior cingulate, superior longitudinal fascicle and internal capsule.Methods:In 14 healthy subjects, we measured intervoxel coherence (IC) by diffusion tensor imaging as an indication of connectivity and visual memory performance measured by the RVDLT. IC considers the orientation of the adjacent voxels and has a better signal-to-noise ratio than the commonly used fractional anisotropy index.Results:Using voxelwise linear regression analyses of the IC values, we found a significant and direct relationship between 11 clusters and visual memory test performance. The fact that memory performance correlated with white matter structure in left and right dorsal hippocampal commissure, left and right posterior cingulate, right callosal splenium, left and right superior longitudinal fascicle, right medial orbitofrontal region, left anterior cingulate, and left and right anterior limb of internal capsule emphasises our hypothesis.Conclusion:Our observations in healthy subjects suggest that individual differences in brain function related to the performance of a task of higher cognitive demands might partially be associated with structural variation of white matter regions.

scholarly journals Uncovering a Role for the Dorsal Hippocampal Commissure in Recognition Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1001-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Postans ◽  
G D Parker ◽  
H Lundell ◽  
M Ptito ◽  
K Hamandi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Interindividual Variation ◽  
White Matter Tract ◽  
Hippocampal Commissure ◽  
Dorsal Hippocampal

Abstract The dorsal hippocampal commissure (DHC) is a white matter tract that provides interhemispheric connections between temporal lobe brain regions. Despite the importance of these regions for learning and memory, there is scant evidence of a role for the DHC in successful memory performance. We used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and white matter tractography to reconstruct the DHC in both humans (in vivo) and nonhuman primates (ex vivo). Across species, our findings demonstrate a close consistency between the known anatomy and tract reconstructions of the DHC. Anterograde tract-tracer techniques also highlighted the parahippocampal origins of DHC fibers in nonhuman primates. Finally, we derived diffusion tensor MRI metrics from the DHC in a large sample of human subjects to investigate whether interindividual variation in DHC microstructure is predictive of memory performance. The mean diffusivity of the DHC correlated with performance in a standardized recognition memory task, an effect that was not reproduced in a comparison commissure tract—the anterior commissure. These findings highlight a potential role for the DHC in recognition memory, and our tract reconstruction approach has the potential to generate further novel insights into the role of this previously understudied white matter tract in both health and disease.

scholarly journals Integrity of white matter structure is related to episodic memory performance in the low-educated elderly

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (11) ◽  
pp. 778-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa de Paula França Resende ◽  
Fernanda Freire Tovar-Moll ◽  
Fernanda Meireles Ferreira ◽  
Ivanei Bramati ◽  
Leonardo Cruz de Souza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Cognitive Screening ◽  
Delayed Recall ◽  
Learning Test ◽  
Low Educated ◽  
The Right

ABSTRACT The low-educated elderly are a vulnerable population in whom studying the role of white matter integrity on memory may provide insights for understanding how memory declines with aging and disease. Methods: Thirty-one participants (22 women), 23 cognitively healthy and eight with cognitive impairment-no dementia, aged 80.4 ± 3.8 years, with 2.2 ± 1.9 years of education, underwent an MRI scan with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) acquisition. We verified if there were correlations between the performance on the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB) and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) with DTI parameters. Results: The BCSB delayed recall task correlated with frontotemporoparietal connection bundles, with the hippocampal part of the cingulum bilaterally and with the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. The RAVLT learning and delayed recall scores also correlated with the hippocampal part of the cingulum bilaterally. Conclusions: Although preliminary, our study suggests that the integrity of white matter frontotemporoparietal fasciculi seems to play a role in episodic memory performance in the low-educated elderly. This finding opens opportunities to study potential targets for memory decline prevention in vulnerable populations.

scholarly journals Uncovering a role for the dorsal hippocampal commissure in episodic memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Postans ◽  
GD Parker ◽  
H Lundell ◽  
M Ptito ◽  
K Hamandi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Mean Diffusivity ◽  
White Matter Tract ◽  
Hippocampal Commissure ◽  
Dorsal Hippocampal

AbstractThe dorsal hippocampal commissure (DHC) is a white matter tract that provides inter-hemispheric connections between temporal lobe brain regions. Despite the importance of these regions for learning and memory, there is scant evidence of a role for the DHC in successful memory performance. We used diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) and white matter tractography to reconstruct the DHC across both humans (in vivo) and nonhuman primates (ex vivo). Across species, our findings demonstrate close consistency between the known anatomy and tract reconstructions of the DHC. Anterograde tract-tracer techniques also highlighted the parahippocampal origins of DHC fibers in nonhuman primates. Finally, we derived Diffusion Tensor MRI (DT-MRI) metrics from the DHC in a large sample of human subjects to investigate whether inter-individual variation in DHC microstructure is predictive of memory performance. The mean diffusivity of the DHC was correlated with performance in a standardised episodic memory task; an effect that was not reproduced in a comparison commissure tract – the anterior commissure. These findings highlight a role for the DHC in episodic memory, and our tract reconstruction approach has the potential to generate further novel insights into the role of this previously understudied white matter tract in both health and disease.

Learning From (Test) Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan E. Mitton ◽  
Chris M. Fiacconi
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Recognition Memory Performance ◽  
Study Test ◽  
Explicit Feedback

Abstract. To date there has been relatively little research within the domain of metamemory that examines how individuals monitor their performance during memory tests, and whether the outcome of such monitoring informs subsequent memory predictions for novel items. In the current study, we sought to determine whether spontaneous monitoring of test performance can in fact help individuals better appreciate their memory abilities, and in turn shape future judgments of learning (JOLs). Specifically, in two experiments we examined recognition memory for visual images across three study-test cycles, each of which contained novel images. We found that across cycles, participants’ JOLs did in fact increase, reflecting metacognitive sensitivity to near-perfect levels of recognition memory performance. This finding suggests that individuals can and do monitor their test performance in the absence of explicit feedback, and further underscores the important role that test experience can play in shaping metacognitive evaluations of learning and remembering.

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