scholarly journals Relational binding and holistic retrieval in aging

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Ngo ◽  
Nora Newcombe
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Verbal Iq ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
General Cognitive Status ◽  
Relational Binding

Episodic memory binds together diverse elements of an event into a cohesive unit. This property enables the reconstruction of multidimensional experiences when triggered by a cue related to a past event via pattern completion processes. Such holistic retrieval is evident in young adults, as shown by dependency in the retrieval success for different associations from the same event (Horner & Burgess, 2013, 2014). Aspects of episodic memory capacity are vulnerable to aging processes, as shown by reduced abilities to form linkages within an event through relational binding (associative deficit hypothesis: Naveh-Benjamin, 2002). However, prior work has not examined whether this reduction affects holistic retrieval in typical aging. Here, we leveraged dependency analyses to examine whether older adults remember or forget events holistically, and whether the degree of holistic retrieval declines with old age. We found evidence for continued holistic retrieval, because accuracy for one aspect of an event predicted accuracy for other aspects of the same event. Younger and older adults did not differ in the degree of holistic recollection, despite robust age-related differences in relational binding. However, within the group of older adults, holistic recollection showed a significant decline with advancing age, controlling for pairwise relational binding performance, verbal IQ, and general cognitive status. These results suggest that a decline in holistic retrieval is an aspect of episodic memory decrements later in cognitive aging.

Episodic Future Thinking and Cognitive Aging

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Schacter ◽  
Aleea L. Devitt ◽  
Donna Rose Addis
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Episodic Future Thinking ◽  
Future Thinking ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Prosocial Intentions ◽  
Age Related Changes

Episodic future thinking refers to the ability to imagine or simulate experiences that might occur in an individual’s personal future. It has been known for decades that cognitive aging is associated with declines in episodic memory, and recent research has documented correlated age-related declines in episodic future thinking. Previous research has considered both cognitive and neural mechanisms that are responsible for age-related changes in episodic future thinking, as well as effects of aging on the functions served by episodic future thinking. Studies concerned with mechanism indicate that multiple cognitive mechanisms contribute to changes in episodic future thinking during aging, including episodic memory retrieval, narrative style, and executive processes. Recent studies using an episodic specificity induction—brief training in recollecting episodic details of a recent experience—have proven useful in separating the contributions of episodic retrieval from other non-episodic processes during future thinking tasks in both old and young adults. Neuroimaging studies provide preliminary evidence of a role for age-related changes in default and executive brain networks in episodic future thinking and autobiographical planning. Studies concerned with function have examined age-related effects on the link between episodic future thinking and a variety of processes, including everyday problem-solving, prospective memory, prosocial intentions, and intertemporal choice/delay discounting. The general finding in these studies is for age-related reductions, consistent with the work on mechanisms that consistently reveals reduced episodic detail in older adults when they imagine future events. However, several studies have revealed that episodic simulation nonetheless confers some benefits for tasks tapping adaptive functions in older adults, such as problem-solving, prospective memory, and prosocial intentions, even though age-related deficits on these tasks are not eliminated or reduced by episodic future thinking.

scholarly journals Effects of Age Differences in Memory Formation on Neural Mechanisms of Consolidation and Retrieval

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam C. Sander ◽  
Yana Fandakova ◽  
Markus Werkle-Bergner
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Memory Network

Episodic memory decline is a hallmark of cognitive aging and a multifaceted phenomenon. We review studies that target age differences across different memory processing stages, i.e., from encoding to retrieval. The available evidence cumulates in the proposition that older adults form memories of lower quality than younger adults, which has negative downstream consequences for later processing stages. We argue that low memory quality in combination with age-related neural decline of key regions of the episodic memory network puts older adults in a double jeopardy situation that finally results in broader memory impairments in older compared to younger adults.

scholarly journals Age-related Decline in Associative Memory: Understanding the Roles of Controlled and Automatic Processes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimmy Y. Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Automatic Processes ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
Episodic Memories

Memory decline in old age is highly noticeable based on tasks assessing episodic memory, which require remembering information about events at specific times and places. The exact cognitive mechanism that accounts for this prominent age-related decline in episodic memory has not been well-understood, and the multitude of mechanisms that were proposed have drawn a credible amount of research and discussions. The current review focuses on the associative deficit hypothesis (ADH) - originally proposed by Naveh-Benjamin and colleagues - that was suggested to form the basis of age-related declines in episodic memories. According to the ADH, older adults’ poorer episodic memory is attributed to the difficulties they experience in formulating relations or links between single units of information (i.e., items or contextual elements), binding them together into a coherent distinctive unit, and retrieving the links between the component features/units whenever necessary [COPYRIGHT CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 J. Y. ZHONG, 2018].

scholarly journals Older adults with lower autobiographical memory abilities report less age-related decline in everyday cognitive function

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina L. Fan ◽  
Kristoffer Romero ◽  
Brian Levine
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Trait Level ◽  
Cognitive Failures Questionnaire

BACKGROUND. Individuals differ in how they remember the past: some recall the gist of events, whereas others re-experience specific details. These trait-level differences reflect life-long autobiographical memory capacities, distinct from laboratory test performance, and there has been little research on how trait mnemonics relate to cognitive aging. Intuitively, one might predict that individuals reporting higher trait-level memory capacity would be resistant to age-related decline in everyday function. On the other hand, those with lower trait-level episodic autobiographical memory capacity may be better equipped with strategies to cope with age-related memory decline. METHODS. We tested these predictions in 959 older adults aged 50–93 using online subjective and objective measures of memory and cognitive function. Our key measures of interest were the Survey of Autobiographical Memory, a measure of autobiographical memory abilities; and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, a measure of everyday cognitive function. RESULTS. In keeping with the second, less intuitive prediction, we found that complaints of day-to-day memory slips and errors (normally elevated with age) remained stable or even decreased with age among those reporting lower trait-level episodic autobiographical memory capacity, whereas the expected age-related functional decline in everyday memory was observed among those reporting higher trait-level episodic autobiographical memory capacity. CONCLUSIONS. Congenitally low trait-level episodic autobiographical memory may paradoxically confer a functional advantage in aging due to well-developed non- episodic strategies not present in those with higher abilities. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering individual differences when studying cognitive aging trajectories.

Activity Engagement in Cognitive Aging: A Review of the Evidence

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Rogalski ◽  
Muriel Quintana
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Omega 3 ◽  
Neuroprotective Effects ◽  
Activity Engagement ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Cognitive Decline

The population of older adults is rapidly increasing, as is the number and type of products and interventions proposed to prevent or reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline. Advocacy and prevention are part of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA’s) scope of practice documents, and speech-language pathologists must have basic awareness of the evidence contributing to healthy cognitive aging. In this article, we provide a brief overview outlining the evidence on activity engagement and its effects on cognition in older adults. We explore the current evidence around the activities of eating and drinking with a discussion on the potential benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, polyphenols, alcohol, and coffee. We investigate the evidence on the hypothesized neuroprotective effects of social activity, the evidence on computerized cognitive training, and the emerging behavioral and neuroimaging evidence on physical activity. We conclude that actively aging using a combination of several strategies may be our best line of defense against cognitive decline.

scholarly journals Social Engagement and Episodic Memory in Non-Hispanic Black and White Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 343-343
Author(s):  
Abbey Hamlin ◽  
A Zarina Kraal ◽  
Laura Zahodne
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Cross Sectional

Abstract Social engagement may confer cognitive benefits in older adulthood, but studies have typically been restricted to largely non-Hispanic White (NHW) samples. Levels of social engagement vary across race such that NHW report larger social networks, more frequent participation in social activities, and greater social support than non-Hispanic Blacks (NHB). Associations between social engagement and cognition may also vary by race, but research is sparse. The current cross-sectional study examined associations between different aspects of social engagement and episodic memory performance, as well as interactions between social engagement and race among NHB and NHW participants in the Michigan Cognitive Aging Project (N = 247; 48.4% NHB; age = 64.19 ± 2.92). Social engagement (network size, activities, support) was self-reported. Episodic memory was a z-score composite of immediate, delayed, and recognition trials of a list-learning task. Separate hierarchical linear regression models quantified interactions between race and each of the three social engagement variables on episodic memory, controlling for sociodemographics, depressive symptoms, and health conditions. Results showed a main effect of more frequent social activity on better episodic memory, as well as an interaction between race and social support indicating a significant positive association in NHB but not NHW. These preliminary findings suggest that participating in social activities may be equally beneficial for episodic memory across NHB and NHW older adults and that social support may be particularly beneficial for NHB. Future research is needed to determine the potential applications of these results in reducing cognitive inequalities through the development of culturally-relevant interventions.

scholarly journals Resting‐State EEG Microstates Parallel Age‐Related Differences in Allocentric Spatial Working Memory Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeline Jabès ◽  
Giuliana Klencklen ◽  
Paolo Ruggeri ◽  
Christoph M. Michel ◽  
Pamela Banta Lavenex ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Age Related

AbstractAlterations of resting-state EEG microstates have been associated with various neurological disorders and behavioral states. Interestingly, age-related differences in EEG microstate organization have also been reported, and it has been suggested that resting-state EEG activity may predict cognitive capacities in healthy individuals across the lifespan. In this exploratory study, we performed a microstate analysis of resting-state brain activity and tested allocentric spatial working memory performance in healthy adult individuals: twenty 25–30-year-olds and twenty-five 64–75-year-olds. We found a lower spatial working memory performance in older adults, as well as age-related differences in the five EEG microstate maps A, B, C, C′ and D, but especially in microstate maps C and C′. These two maps have been linked to neuronal activity in the frontal and parietal brain regions which are associated with working memory and attention, cognitive functions that have been shown to be sensitive to aging. Older adults exhibited lower global explained variance and occurrence of maps C and C′. Moreover, although there was a higher probability to transition from any map towards maps C, C′ and D in young and older adults, this probability was lower in older adults. Finally, although age-related differences in resting-state EEG microstates paralleled differences in allocentric spatial working memory performance, we found no evidence that any individual or combination of resting-state EEG microstate parameter(s) could reliably predict individual spatial working memory performance. Whether the temporal dynamics of EEG microstates may be used to assess healthy cognitive aging from resting-state brain activity requires further investigation.

scholarly journals Strategies and cognitive reserve to preserve lexical production in aging

GeroScience ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Baciu ◽  
Sonja Banjac ◽  
Elise Roger ◽  
Célise Haldin ◽  
Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Compensatory Strategies ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Complementary Domain

AbstractIn the absence of any neuropsychiatric condition, older adults may show declining performance in several cognitive processes and among them, in retrieving and producing words, reflected in slower responses and even reduced accuracy compared to younger adults. To overcome this difficulty, healthy older adults implement compensatory strategies, which are the focus of this paper. We provide a review of mainstream findings on deficient mechanisms and possible neurocognitive strategies used by older adults to overcome the deleterious effects of age on lexical production. Moreover, we present findings on genetic and lifestyle factors that might either be protective or risk factors of cognitive impairment in advanced age. We propose that “aging-modulating factors” (AMF) can be modified, offering prevention opportunities against aging effects. Based on our review and this proposition, we introduce an integrative neurocognitive model of mechanisms and compensatory strategies for lexical production in older adults (entitled Lexical Access and Retrieval in Aging, LARA). The main hypothesis defended in LARA is that cognitive aging evolves heterogeneously and involves complementary domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms, with substantial inter-individual variability, reflected at behavioral, cognitive, and brain levels. Furthermore, we argue that the ability to compensate for the effect of cognitive aging depends on the amount of reserve specific to each individual which is, in turn, modulated by the AMF. Our conclusion is that a variety of mechanisms and compensatory strategies coexist in the same individual to oppose the effect of age. The role of reserve is pivotal for a successful coping with age-related changes and future research should continue to explore the modulating role of AMF.

scholarly journals Sounds of Healthy Aging: Assessing Everyday Cognitive Activity From Real-Life Audio Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 622-622
Author(s):  
Burcu Demiray ◽  
Minxia Luo ◽  
Matthew Grilli
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
World Health ◽  
Recording Device

Abstract The healthy aging model of the World Health Organization (2015) highlights the value of assessing and monitoring everyday activities in understanding health in old age. This symposium includes four studies that used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a portable recording device that periodically collects sound snippets in everyday life, to assess various real-life cognitive activities in the context of healthy aging. The four studies collected over 100,000 sound snippets (30-seconds long) over a few days from young and older adults in the US and Switzerland. Participants’ speech in the sound snippets were transcribed and coded for different cognitive activity information. Specifically, Haas and Kliegel have investigated the “prospective memory paradox” by examining the commonality and differences in utterances about retrospective and prospective memory failure in young and older adults’ everyday conversations. Demiray and colleagues investigated the relation between autobiographical memory functions and conversation types in young and older adults in relation to well-being. Luo and colleagues have identified the compensatory function of real-world contexts in cognitive aging: Their study showed that older adults benefited from talking with their spouse in producing complex grammatical structures. Finally, Polsinelli and colleagues found robust associations between language markers (e.g., prepositions, more numbers) and executive functions, highlighting the potential use of spontaneous speech in predicting cognitive status in healthy older adults. Finally, Prof. Matthew Grilli will serve as a discussant and provide an integrative discussion of the papers, informed by his extensive work on clinical and cognitive neuroscience of memory in relation to real-life contexts.

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