scholarly journals Searching for the Past: Exploring the Dynamics of Direct and Generative Autobiographical Memory Reconstruction Among Young and Cognitively Normal Older Adults

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey Anne Ladd Wank ◽  
Jessica R. Andrews-Hanna ◽  
Matthew D. Grilli
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Specific Detail ◽  
Cognitively Normal ◽  
The Past ◽  
Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Age Related

Episodic autobiographical memories (EAMs) can come to mind through two retrieval routes, one direct (i.e., an EAM is retrieved almost instantaneously) and the other generative (i.e., by using autobiographical/general knowledge to cue an EAM). It is well established that normal cognitive aging is associated with a reduction in the retrieval of EAMs, but the contributions of direct or generative reconstruction to the age-related shift toward general memories remain unknown. Prior studies also have not clarified whether similar cognitive mechanisms facilitate the ability to successfully reconstruct EAMs and elaborate them in event-specific detail. To address these gaps in knowledge, young and older participants were asked to reconstruct EAMs using a “think-aloud” paradigm and then describe in detail a subset of retrieved memories. An adapted scoring procedure was implemented to categorize memories accessed during reconstruction, and the Autobiographical Interview (AI) scoring procedure was utilized for elaboration scoring. Results indicated that in comparison to young adults, older adults not only engaged in direct retrieval less often than young adults, but they also more often ended generative retrieval at general events instead of EAMs. The ability to elaborate EAMs with internal details was positively associated with the ability to use generative retrieval to reconstruct EAMs in both young and older adults, but there was no relationship between internal detail elaboration and direct retrieval in either age group. Taken together, these results indicate age-related differences in direct and generative retrieval contribute to overgeneral autobiographical memory and they support a connection between generative retrieval and elaboration.

scholarly journals 0101 Episodic Future Thinking Triggers Age-Related Differences in Spindles and Slow Oscillations

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A40-A40
Author(s):  
J Diaz ◽  
P Fillmore ◽  
C Gao ◽  
M K Scullin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Future Thinking ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Slow Oscillations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Future

Abstract Introduction In young adults, sleep spindles are theorized to represent memory consolidation. Spindle density may be especially prominent when young adults encode information that has future relevance. Older adults, on the other hand, show reduced capacity for future thinking and deficits in sleep-dependent memory consolidation. To advance these literatures, we investigated whether the process of mentally simulating the future (versus remembering the past) was associated with subsequent alterations to sleep microarchitecture in young and older adults. Methods 64 healthy adults aged 18–84 completed a polysomnography adaptation night followed by two in-laboratory experimental nights. On both nights, participants completed the Modified Future Crovitz Test (MFCT) in which they mentally simulated only future events or remembered only past events (night order counterbalanced). To quantify the extent of future/past thinking, we conducted linguistics analyses on tense (future/past) using LIWC 2015 software. Results On the future-thinking night, young adults with greater future-tense MFCT scores showed significantly greater spindle density across frontal, midline, and central sites (r=.42 to r=.51), even when controlling for age, gender, and total word count (all ps < .01). The opposite was true for middle-to-older aged adults; greater future-tense MFCT scores were associated with less spindle density across midline and central sites after controlling for age, gender, and word count (r=-.44 to r=-.46, ps<.05). However, while spindle density decreased, frontal slow oscillations increased in older adults with greater future-tense MFCT scores (r=.39, p<.05). On the past-thinking night, spindle density and slow oscillations were unrelated to past-tense or future-tense MFCT scores for either age group. Conclusion Age-related deficits in memory consolidation may be due to impaired tagging of information as having future relevance, or impaired physiological responses during sleep to wake-based tagging. Addressing encoding—spindle interactions may inform why cognitive functioning declines in some adults more than others. Support Sleep Research Society Foundation

scholarly journals Situation model updating in young and older adults

2019 ◽  
pp. 016502541987412
Author(s):  
Lara Hoeben Mannaert ◽  
Katinka Dijkstra
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Model Updating ◽  
Situation Model ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Situation Models ◽  
The Past ◽  
Age Related

Over the past decade or so, developments in language comprehension research in the domain of cognitive aging have converged on support for resilience in older adults with regard to situation model updating when reading texts. Several studies have shown that even though age-related declines in language comprehension appear at the level of the surface form and text base of the text, these age differences do not apply to the creation and updating of situation models. In fact, older adults seem more sensitive to certain manipulations of situation model updating. This article presents a review of theories on situation model updating as well how they match with research on situation model updating in younger and older adults. Factors that may be responsible for the resilience of language comprehension in older age will be discussed as well as avenues for future research.

scholarly journals Aging and Inhibition of Return to Locations and Objects

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asenath X. A. Huether ◽  
Linda K. Langley ◽  
Laura E. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Partial Support ◽  
Cognitive Mechanism ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Age Patterns

Inhibition of return (IOR) is thought to reflect a cognitive mechanism that biases attention from returning to previously engaged items. While models of cognitive aging have proposed deficits within select inhibitory domains, older adults have demonstrated preserved IOR functioning in previous studies. The present study investigated whether inhibition associated with objects shows the same age patterns as inhibition associated with locations. Young adults (18–22 years) and older adults (60–86 years) were tested in two experiments measuring location- and object-based IOR. Using a dynamic paradigm (Experiment 1), both age groups produced significant location-based IOR, but only young adults produced significant object-based IOR, consistent with previous findings. However, with a static paradigm (Experiment 2), young adults and older adults produced both location- and object-based IOR, indicating that object-based IOR is preserved in older adults under some conditions. The findings provide partial support for unique age-related inhibitory patterns associated with attention to objects and locations.

scholarly journals Telephone Quitline Use and Effectiveness Among Young Adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Ann Malarcher ◽  
Jennifer M. Bombard ◽  
Vance Rabius
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Tobacco Use ◽  
Smoking Prevalence ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
The Past ◽  
Age Related

Introduction: Although smoking prevalence has declined dramatically among adults in the past 40 years, 19.3% of adults still smoke, including 20.1% of adults aged 18–24 years. Quitlines are effective, population-based interventions that increase successful cessation.Aims: This study aims to describe the characteristics of young adult smokers aged 18–24 years who used telephone cessation counselling for assistance with quitting, to assess self-reported quit rates, and to examine predictors of quitting, compared to older adults.Methods: We examined data from 4,542 young adult smokers aged 18–24 years and 46,094 smokers aged ≥25 years who enrolled in the American Cancer Society's quitline services during 2006–2008.Results: Young adult smokers aged 18–24 years who called quitlines differed slightly from older adults in demographics and tobacco-use behaviours. There were no age-related differences in self-reported seven-day quit rates or 30-day quit rates at the seven-month follow-up. Predictors of quitting were mostly similar for the young adults and the older adults, although the odds of quitting were lower among young adults for living with vs. not living with a smoker.Conclusions: Although young adult smokers under-utilise telephone cessation quitlines for assistance with quitting, those who do use these services have quit rates similar to older adults.

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.

Inefficient Encoding as an Explanation for Age-Related Deficits in Recollection-Based Processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Friedman ◽  
Ray Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Face ◽  
Episodic Memories

A cardinal feature of aging is a decline in episodic memory (EM). Nevertheless, there is evidence that some older adults may be able to “compensate” for failures in recollection-based processing by recruiting brain regions and cognitive processes not normally recruited by the young. We review the evidence suggesting that age-related declines in EM performance and recollection-related brain activity (left-parietal EM effect; LPEM) are due to altered processing at encoding. We describe results from our laboratory on differences in encoding- and retrieval-related activity between young and older adults. We then show that, relative to the young, in older adults brain activity at encoding is reduced over a brain region believed to be crucial for successful semantic elaboration in a 400–1,400-ms interval (left inferior prefrontal cortex, LIPFC; Johnson, Nessler, & Friedman, 2013 ; Nessler, Friedman, Johnson, & Bersick, 2007 ; Nessler, Johnson, Bersick, & Friedman, 2006 ). This reduced brain activity is associated with diminished subsequent recognition-memory performance and the LPEM at retrieval. We provide evidence for this premise by demonstrating that disrupting encoding-related processes during this 400–1,400-ms interval in young adults affords causal support for the hypothesis that the reduction over LIPFC during encoding produces the hallmarks of an age-related EM deficit: normal semantic retrieval at encoding, reduced subsequent episodic recognition accuracy, free recall, and the LPEM. Finally, we show that the reduced LPEM in young adults is associated with “additional” brain activity over similar brain areas as those activated when older adults show deficient retrieval. Hence, rather than supporting the compensation hypothesis, these data are more consistent with the scaffolding hypothesis, in which the recruitment of additional cognitive processes is an adaptive response across the life span in the face of momentary increases in task demand due to poorly-encoded episodic memories.

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.

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