Verbal Memory in Late-life Depressions and Normal Ageing

KnE Life Sciences ◽

10.18502/kls.v4i8.3268 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

E Balashova ◽

E Zarudnaya

Keyword(s):

Verbal Memory ◽

Late Life ◽

Healthy People ◽

Clinical Group ◽

Semantic Field ◽

Scientific Center ◽

Delayed Reproduction ◽

Normal Ageing ◽

Microsoft Office ◽

Verbal Stimulation

In the present article, authors analyze characteristics of verbal memory in late-life depressions and normal ageing. During last decades, the increase of frequency of affective disorders in depression spectrum in late age attracts attention of specialists. Memory is one of the most sensitive functions in late-life depressions. The maingoal of this research is to estimate verbal memory of senior patients with depression and normal persons. Two groups of participants, consisting of 197 patients with depressions of Scientific Center of Mental Health (Moscow) and 100 mentally healthy people participated in this research. Control and clinical groups were comparable by socio-demographical parameters. The results of two methods were interpreted: (1) memorization and delayed reproduction of five words; (2) naming of five sharp objects. In first method, the volume of first reproduction (FR), the number of material presentations required for memorization (N) and the volume of delayed reproduction (DR) were examined. In addition, the frequency of occurrence of various types of errors such as omissions, inert repetitions, impairments of order and of selectivity was estimated. In the second method were examined: presence of pauses, necessity of psychological assistance, such as verbal stimulation or clarification of the semantic field. Statistical analysis was made using SPSS Statistics and Microsoft office Excel 2007. The research results showed that patients with depression deal with offeredmethods worse than mentally healthy people do. In memorization of five words, volumes of FR and DR were lower and patients needed more repetitions to memorize. When analyzing age dynamic, negative changes in verbal memory were more evident in clinical group. When naming of five sharp objects, patients with depression made more pauses and needed more frequently clarification of semantic field or verbal stimulation. Keywords: verbal memory, normal ageing, late-life depressions, neuropsychology

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The Primacy of Beauty in Music, Visual Arts and Literature: Not Just a Replication Study in the Greek Language Exploring the Effects of Verbal Fluency, Age and Gender

Psychological Reports ◽

10.1177/00332941211026836 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003329412110268

Author(s):

Vaitsa Giannouli ◽

Juliana Yordanova ◽

Vasil Kolev

Keyword(s):

Visual Arts ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Cognitive Factors ◽

Semantic Field ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Greek Language ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Music And Literature ◽

Young Females ◽

And Gender

Research on aesthetic descriptors of art in different languages is scarce. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the conceptual structure of aesthetic experiences of three forms of art (music, visual arts and literature) in the Greek language, which has not been explored so far. It was further aimed to study if biological and cognitive factors such as age and gender might produce differences in art appreciation. A total of 467 younger and older individuals from Greece were asked to generate verbal descriptors (adjectives) in free word-listing conditions in order to collect terms reflecting the aesthetics-related semantic field of art. The capacity of verbal memory was controlled by using a battery of neuropsychological tests. Analysis of generated adjectives’ frequency and salience revealed that ‘beautiful’ was the most prominent descriptor that was selected with a distinctive primacy for all three forms of arts. The primacy of ‘beautiful’ was significantly more pronounced for visual arts relative to music and literature. Although the aging-related decline of verbal capacity was similar for males and females, the primacy of ‘beautiful’ depended on age and gender by being more emphasized for young females than males, and for old males than females. Analysis of secondary descriptors and pairs of adjectives revealed that affective and hedonic experiences are essentially fixed in the semantic field of art reflection. It is concluded that although the concept of the aesthetics seems to be diversified and rich, a clear primacy of beauty is found for the Greek cultural environment and across different forms of art. The results also highlight the presence of complex influences of biological and cognitive factors on aesthetic art experiences.

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Association between physical frailty and cognition in late-life depression

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.037 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (S1) ◽

pp. S84-S84

Author(s):

M. Arts ◽

R. Collard ◽

H. Comijs ◽

M. Zuidersma ◽

S. de Rooij ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Cognitive Functioning ◽

Processing Speed ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Late Life ◽

Interference Control ◽

Late Life Depression ◽

Physical Frailty ◽

Cognitive Frailty ◽

Frailty Criteria

IntroductionCognitive frailty has recently been defined as the co-occurrence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment. Late-life depression is associated with both physical frailty and cognitive impairment, especially processing speed and executive functioning.Aim and objectivesIn this study, we investigated the association between physical frailty and cognitive functioning in depressed older persons.MethodsIn a total of 378 patients (> 60 years) with depression according to DSM-IV criteria and a MMSE score of 24 points or higher, the physical frailty phenotype as well as its individual criteria (weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, slowness, low activity) was studied. Cognitive functioning was examined in 4 domains: verbal memory, working memory, interference control, and processing speed.ResultsOf the 378 depressed patients (range 60–90 years; 66.1% women), 61 were classified as robust (no frailty criteria present), 214 as prefrail (1 or 2 frailty criteria present), and 103 as frail (> 3 criteria). Linear regression analyses, adjusted for confounders, showed that the severity of physical frailty was associated with poorer verbal memory, slower processing speed, and decreased working memory, but not with changes in interference control.ConclusionIn late-life depression, physical frailty is associated with poorer cognitive functioning, although not consistently for executive functioning. Future studies should examine whether cognitive impairment in the presence of physical frailty belongs to cognitive frailty and is indeed an important concept to identify a specific subgroup of depressed older patients, who need multimodal treatment strategies integrating physical, cognitive, and psychological functioning.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS AND STRUCTURE OF DISORDERS IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Journal of Internal Medicine: Science & Art ◽

10.36013/jimsa.v1i1.10 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

Author(s):

Viktoriia Krotova

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Arterial Hypertension ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Neuropsychological Tests ◽

Cognitive Activity ◽

Cognitive Disorders ◽

Main Group ◽

Medical Rehabilitation ◽

Brain Functions ◽

Delayed Reproduction

Age and heredity, cardiovascular disease, especially arterial hypertension is an important risk factor for cognitive impairment. The aim of the study is to determine the features of the development and structure of cognitive impairment in patients with controlled stage II arterial hypertension using a battery of neuropsychological tests. The main group of the study consisted of 157 patients with hypertension and CI, mean age of the group was 52.3±0.68 years. After research using a battery of neuropsychological tests, data were obtained on the presence of cognitive disorders in 32.22 % of cases. According to the MoCA test in patients with hypertension there was a decrease in scores on all subscales compared to healthy, but the largest deviations (over 20% of the maximum score) were observed in the ability to serial subtraction (35.0 %), delayed reproduction (27,0 %), abstraction (by 24.0 %), in visual-constructive / executive skills (by 21.0 %). All patients with hypertension with detected CI were violations of the concentration of the excitatory process in the visual and motor analyzers. Thus, only 2 patients (1.3 %) performed tasks without errors in 5 sectors (normal), up to 4 sectors coped with counting 28 (17.8 %) patients, up to 3 sectors - 65 (41.4 %), up to 2 sector - 56 (35.7%), another 6 (3.8%) patients aged 55 to 65 years could not complete the task without errors - by method F.E. Rybakov.The level of attention and speed of sensor motor reactions was carried out according to the method of "Schulte Tables". Patients were characterized by rapid fatigue, uneven performance of the task, refusal to perform further due to fatigue and inability to concentrate. The average time of the task in patients of the main group throughout the study exceeded the data of patients in the comparison group by 1.3-1.6 times), and almost healthy individuals - 1.4-1.7 times.Patients with hypertension have disorders at different levels of higher brain functions and correspond to all areas of human cognitive activity, but the most affected are neurodynamic processes (the ability to concentrate, the speed of psychomotor reactions) and verbal memory, which affect efficiency and success in work, and this is important for medical rehabilitation and maintaining the mental health of patients.

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