scholarly journals Working Memory and the Enactment Effect in Early Alzheimer’s Disease

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara A. Charlesworth ◽  
Richard J. Allen ◽  
Suzannah Morson ◽  
Wendy K. Burn ◽  
Celine Souchay
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Enactment Effect ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Instruction Sequences ◽  
Early Alzheimer’S Disease

This study examines the enactment effect in early Alzheimer’s disease using a novel working memory task. Free recall of action-object instruction sequences was measured in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (n=14) and older adult controls (n=15). Instruction sequences were read out loud by the experimenter (verbal-only task) or read by the experimenter and performed by the participants (subject-performed task). In both groups and for all sequence lengths, recall was superior in the subject-performed condition than the verbal-only condition. Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease showed a deficit in free recall of recently learned instruction sequences relative to older adult controls, yet both groups show a significant benefit from performing actions themselves at encoding. The subject-performed task shows promise as a tool to improve working memory in early Alzheimer’s disease.

scholarly journals Emotional Working Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Mammarella ◽  
Beth Fairfield
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Dementia Of Alzheimer’S Type

A number of recent studies have reported that working memory does not seem to show typical age-related deficits in healthy older adults when emotional information is involved. Differently, studies about the short-term ability to encode and actively manipulate emotional information in dementia of Alzheimer’s type are few and have yielded mixed results. Here, we review behavioural and neuroimaging evidence that points to a complex interaction between emotion modulation and working memory in Alzheimer’s. In fact, depending on the function involved, patients may or may not show an emotional benefit in their working memory performance. In addition, this benefit is not always clearly biased (e.g., towards negative or positive information). We interpret this complex pattern of results as a consequence of the interaction between multiple factors including the severity of Alzheimer’s disease, the nature of affective stimuli, and type of working memory task.

scholarly journals Adaptive working memory strategy training in early Alzheimer's disease: Randomised controlled trial

2017 ◽  
Vol 210 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Huntley ◽  
A. Hampshire ◽  
D. Bor ◽  
A. Owen ◽  
R. J. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Strategy Training ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Early Alzheimer’S Disease

BackgroundInterventions that improve cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease are urgently required.AimsTo assess whether a novel cognitive training paradigm based on ‘chunking’ improves working memory and general cognitive function, and is associated with reorganisation of functional activity in prefrontal and parietal cortices (trial registration: ISRCTN43007027).MethodThirty patients with mild Alzheimer's disease were randomly allocated to receive 18 sessions of 30 min of either adaptive chunking training or an active control intervention over approximately 8 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were also conducted.ResultsAdaptive chunking training led to significant improvements in verbal working memory and untrained clinical measures of general cognitive function. Further, fMRI revealed a bilateral reduction in task-related lateral prefrontal and parietal cortex activation in the training group compared with controls.ConclusionsChunking-based cognitive training is a simple and potentially scalable intervention to improve cognitive function in early Alzheimer's disease.

scholarly journals Time‐frequency analysis in a working memory task in pre‐clinical stage and symptomatic stage of Alzheimer’s disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (S5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Doval ◽  
Noelia Serrano ◽  
David López Sanz ◽  
Ricardo Bruña Fernández ◽  
María Luisa Delgado Losada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Frequency Analysis ◽  
Clinical Stage ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Time Frequency Analysis ◽  
Time Frequency

EEG synchronization likelihood in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease during a working memory task

2004 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1332-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.A.L. Pijnenburg ◽  
Y. vd Made ◽  
A.M. van Cappellen van Walsum ◽  
D.L. Knol ◽  
Ph. Scheltens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Synchronization Likelihood

scholarly journals Hippocampal volume and retention in Alzheimer's disease

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOEL H. KRAMER ◽  
NORBERT SCHUFF ◽  
BRUCE R. REED ◽  
DAN MUNGAS ◽  
AN-TAO DU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Structural Mri ◽  
Hippocampal Volume ◽  
Immediate Recall ◽  
Cortical Gray Matter

This study tested the hypothesis that the hippocampus has a relatively specific role in retaining information over delays. Thirty-seven subjects with probable Alzheimer's disease were evaluated with a verbal memory task and structural MRI. Cortical gray matter but not hippocampal volume predicted immediate free recall. In contrast, hippocampal volume was the best predictor of how well information was retained over a delay, even after controlling for levels of immediate recall. Results suggest that the role of the hippocampus is relatively specific to the consolidation of new memories. (JINS, 2004, 10, 639–643.)

scholarly journals The Role of Physical Fitness in Cognitive-Related Biomarkers in Persons at Genetic Risk of Familial Alzheimer’s Disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsai ◽  
Sun ◽  
Kuo ◽  
Pai
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Physical Fitness ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Apoe Genotype ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Molecular Biomarkers ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory

Introduction: Nondemented people with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease (ADFH) and the ApoE-4 allele have been demonstrated to show a trend for a higher probability of cognitive decline and aberrant levels of cognitive-related biomarkers. However, the potential interactive effects on physical fitness have not been investigated. Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether ADFH individuals with the ApoE-4 genotype show deviant brain event-related neural oscillatory performance and cognitively-related molecular indices. A secondary purpose was to examine the interactive effects on physical fitness. Methods: Blood samples were provided from 110 individuals with ADFH to assess molecular biomarkers and the ApoE genotype for the purpose of dividing them into an ApoE-4 group (n = 16) and a non-ApoE-4 group (n = 16) in order for them to complete a visuospatial working memory task while simultaneously recording electroencephalographic signals. They also performed a senior functional physical fitness (SFPF) test. Results: While performing the cognitive task, the ApoE-4 relative to non-ApoE-4 group showed worse accuracy rates (ARs) and brain neural oscillatory performance. There were no significant between-group differences with regard to any molecular biomarkers (e.g., IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, BDNF, Aβ1-40, Aβ1-42). VO2max was significantly correlated with the neuropsychological performance (i.e., ARs and RTs) in the 2-item and 4-item conditions in the ApoE-4 group and across the two groups. However, the electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillations during visuospatial working memory processing in the two conditions were not correlated with any SFPF scores or cardiorespiratory tests in the two groups. Conclusions: ADFH individuals with the ApoE-4 genotype only showed deviant neuropsychological (e.g., ARs) and neural oscillatory performance when performing the cognitive task with a higher visuospatial working memory load. Cardiorespiratory fitness potentially played an important role in neuropsychological impairment in this group.

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