scholarly journals A smartphone intervention that enhances real-world memory and promotes differentiation of hippocampal activity in older adults

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris B. Martin ◽  
Bryan Hong ◽  
Rachel N. Newsome ◽  
Katarina Savel ◽  
Melissa E Meade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Real World ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Hippocampal Activity ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Memory Signals

The act of remembering an everyday experience influences how we interpret the world, how we think about the future, and how we perceive ourselves. It also enhances long-term retention of the recalled content, increasing the likelihood that it will be recalled again. Unfortunately, the ability to recollect event-specific details tends to decline with age, resulting in an impoverished ability to mentally re-experience the past. This shift has been linked to a corresponding decline in the distinctiveness of hippocampal memory representations. Despite these well-established changes, there are few effective cognitive behavioral interventions that target real-world episodic memory. We addressed this gap by developing a smartphone-based application called HippoCamera that allows participants to record labelled videos of everyday events and subsequently replay standardized, high-fidelity autobiographical memory cues. In two experiments, we found that older adults were able to easily integrate this non-invasive intervention into their daily lives. Using HippoCamera to repeatedly reactivate memories for real-world events improved episodic recollection and it evoked more positive autobiographical sentiment at the time of retrieval. In both experiments, these benefits were observed shortly after the intervention and again after a 3-month delay. Moreover, more detailed recollection was associated with more differentiated memory signals in the hippocampus. We conclude that using this smartphone application to systematically reactivate memories for recent real-world experiences can help to maintain a bridge between the present and past self in older adults.

scholarly journals Older Adult Peer Specialists’ Role in Reducing Loneliness Among People With Mental Health Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 662-662
Author(s):  
Karen Fortuna ◽  
George Mois ◽  
Jessica Brooks ◽  
Amanda Myers ◽  
Cynthia Bianco
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Real World ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Potential Effectiveness ◽  
Mental Health Conditions ◽  
Management Intervention

Abstract PeerTECH is a peer-delivered and technology-support integrated medical and psychiatric self-management intervention developed by peers. A pre/post trial by our group has shown PeerTECH is associated with statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy for managing chronic disease and psychiatric self-management skills. This presentation will discuss the feasibility and potential effectiveness of using ecological momentary assessments (EMA) with older adults with mental health conditions to allow us to recognize early signs of loneliness and intervene as early as possible in real-world settings. EMA involves repeated sampling of an individual’s behaviors and experiences in real time, real-world environments on the smartphone application. Then, we will discuss the main and interactive effects of loneliness and factors linked to mortality. In conclusion, we will discuss potential effectiveness of PeerTECH with older adults with SMI.

Rebuilding and Reconnecting After Disaster: Listening to Older Adults

Fabula ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoko Taniguchi
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Population History ◽  
Temporary Housing ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Village

Abstract:This essay is based on interviews and participant-observation work with older residents forced to evacuate their homes after the 2004 Chūetsu-Niigata Earthquake, exploring how people tell stories about reconnecting with their hometowns after disaster and about long-term displacement. Specifically, the essay: 1) describes how a relationship developed between the residents and an outside ethnographer; 2) presents a regional outline of the village, describing its geography, population, history, and the aftermath of the 2004 earthquake;3) details the processes involved in the residents' displacement into temporary housing; and 4) explores the primary factors that influenced survivors in their decision to return to their hometown and restart their daily lives.

scholarly journals The Decision-Making and Communication Capacities of Older Adults with Dementia: A Population-Based Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuko Mitoku ◽  
Setsu Shimanouchi
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Decision Making Capacity ◽  
One Year

The present study assessed the decision-making and communication capacities of older adults with dementia who required assistance and care and measured the subsequent changes in these capacities. Of 845 older adults who received long-term care between April 2003 and December 2004, about half of them without dementia were excluded and the remaining 448 were finally included in the analyses. These individuals were completed follow-up for assessment for two years. The data were obtained from the Long-Term Care Insurance Certification Committee for Eligibility in Gujo City. A total of 73.7% of people with dementia were somewhat capable of making decisions (32.4% were reported as being “always capable”; 41.3% were reported as being “sometimes capable”). A total of 93.7% were somewhat capable of communicating with others (78.3% were reported as being “always capable”; 15.4% were reported as being “sometimes capable”). The results indicate that older adults with dementia can participate in their own care decisions, even if they require assistance and support in their daily lives. The present study shows, however, that baseline decision-making capacity declined to about half what they were after one year and to about one-third of what they were after two years, suggesting that earlier efforts are needed to ensure that the preferences of individuals with dementia are reflected in their care.

scholarly journals The Adaptive Neuroplasticity Hypothesis of Behavioral Maintenance

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janey C. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Neural Networks ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Functional Ability ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Physical Inactivity ◽  
Behavioral Maintenance ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Term Maintenance

Physical activity is a seemingly simple and clinically potent method to decrease morbidity and mortality in people with coronary heart disease (CHD). Nonetheless, long-term maintenance of physical activity remains a frustratingly elusive goal for patients and practitioners alike. In this paper, we posit that among older adults with CHD, recidivism after the initiation of physical activity reflects maladaptive neuroplasticity of malleable neural networks, and people will revert back to learned and habitual physical inactivity patterns, particularly in the setting of stress or depression. We hypothesize that behavioral interventions that successfully promote physical activity may also enhance adaptive neuroplasticity and play a key role in the maintenance of physical activity through the development of new neuronal pathways that enhance functional ability in older adults. Conversely, without such adaptive neuroplastic changes, ingrained maladaptive neuroplasticity will prevail and long-term maintenance of physical activity will fail. In this paper we will: (1) describe the enormous potential for neuroplasticity in older adults; (2) review stress and depression as examples of maladaptive neuroplasticity; (3) describe an example of adaptive neuroplasticity achieved with a behavioral intervention that induced positive affect in people with CHD; and (4) discuss implications for future work in bench to bedside translational research.

scholarly journals Eavesdropping on autobiographical memory: A naturalistic observation study of older adults' memory sharing in daily conversations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey Anne Ladd Wank ◽  
Matthias R. Mehl ◽  
Jessica R. Andrews-Hanna ◽  
Angelina Jantina Polsinelli ◽  
Suzanne Moseley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Real World ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
Autobiographical Memories ◽  
Observation Study ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Episodic Memories

The retrieval of autobiographical memories is an integral part of everyday social interactions. Prior laboratory research has revealed that older age is associated with a reduction in the retrieval of autobiographical episodic memories, and the ability to elaborate these memories with episodic details. However, how age-related reductions in episodic specificity unfold in everyday social contexts remains largely unknown. Also, constraints of the laboratory-based approach have limited our understanding of how autobiographical semantic memory is linked to older age. To address these gaps in knowledge, we used a smartphone application known as the Electronically Activated Recorder, or “EAR”, to unobtrusively capture real-world conversations over four days. In a sample of 102 cognitively normal older adults, we extracted instances where memories and future thoughts were shared by the participants, and we scored the shared episodic memories and future thoughts for their make-up of episodic and semantic detail. We found that older age was associated with a reduction in real-world sharing of autobiographical episodic and semantic memories. We also found that older age was linked to less episodically and semantically detailed descriptions of autobiographical episodic memories. Frequency and level of detail of shared future thoughts yielded weaker relationships with age, which may be related to the low frequency of future thoughts in general. Similar to laboratory research, there was no correlation between autobiographical episodic detail sharing and a standard episodic memory test. However, in contrast to laboratory studies, episodic detail production while sharing autobiographical episodic memories was weakly related to episodic detail production while describing future events, unrelated to working memory, and not different between men and women. Overall, our findings provide novel evidence of how older age relates to episodic specificity when autobiographical memories are assessed unobtrusively and objectively “in the wild”.

scholarly journals Association between Daily Living Walking Speed and Walking Speed in Laboratory Settings in Healthy Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 2707
Author(s):  
Hisashi Kawai ◽  
Shuichi Obuchi ◽  
Yutaka Watanabe ◽  
Hirohiko Hirano ◽  
Yoshinori Fujiwara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Walking Speed ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Intraclass Correlation ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Adverse Health Outcomes ◽  
Average Maximum

Although there is evidence on the predictors of adverse health outcomes in older individuals, walking speed has typically been measured in laboratory settings (LWS); LWS may be distinct from individuals’ actual walking speed in their daily lives (DWS). We examined whether DWS differs from LWS among older adults, and its association with physical frailty. Participants were 90 community-dwelling older adults. A five-meter normal (LWSnor) and maximum (LWSmax) walking speed was measured with a stopwatch. DWS was measured using a global positioning system-related smartphone application for one month during their daily lives. DWSavr, DWSmax, and DWSsd were defined as the average, maximum, and standard deviation of walking speed for one month. Participants’ mean DWSavr and DWSmax were 1.28 m/s and 2.14 m/s, respectively, significantly slower than the mean LWSnor (1.42 m/s) and LWSmax (2.24 m/s); the intraclass correlation coefficient between DWS and LWS were 0.188 to 0.341. DWS was significantly correlated with grip strength, one-legged stance, and LWS. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of DWSsd concerning pre-frailty was largest among DWSs, at 0.615, while that of LWSnor was 0.643. The findings suggest that DWS differs from LWS and is associated with physical function and pre-frailty.

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