Age moderation of the association between negative subsequent memory effects and episodic memory performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Pruitt ◽  
Lingfei Tang ◽  
Jessica Hayes ◽  
Noa Ofen ◽  
Jessica S. Damoiseaux
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Memory Effects ◽  
Age Related

Negative subsequent memory effects in functional MRI studies of memory formation, have been linked to individual differences in memory performance, yet the effect of age on this association is currently unclear. To provide insight into the brain systems related to memory across the lifespan, we examined functional neuroimaging data acquired during episodic memory formation and behavioral performance from a memory recognition task in a sample of 109 participants, including three developmental age groups (8-12, 13-17, 18-25 year-olds) and one additional group of older adults (55-85 year-olds). Young adults showed the highest memory performance and strongest negative subsequent memory effects, while older adults showed reduced negative subsequent memory effects relative to young adults. Across the sample, negative subsequent memory effects were associated with better memory performance, and there was a significant interaction between negative subsequent memory effects and memory performance by age groups. Posthoc analyses revealed that this effect was driven by a strong association between negative subsequent memory effects and memory performance in adolescents and young adults, but not in children and older adults. These findings suggest that negative subsequent memory effects may differentially support memory performance across a lifespan trajectory characterized by developmental maturation and age-related deterioration.

scholarly journals Preparing for the Worst: Evidence that Older Adults Proactively Downregulate Negative Affect

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1291-1306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany Corbett ◽  
M Natasha Rajah ◽  
Audrey Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Emotional Suppression ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Pls Analysis ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Previous studies have only investigated age-related differences in emotional processing and encoding in response to, not in anticipation of, emotional stimuli. In the current study, we investigated age-related differences in the impact of emotional anticipation on affective responses and episodic memory for emotional images. Young and older adults were scanned while encoding negative and neutral images preceded by cues that were either valid or invalid predictors of image valence. Participants were asked to rate the emotional intensity of the images and to complete a recognition task. Using multivariate behavioral partial least squares (PLS) analysis, we found that greater anticipatory recruitment of the amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and hippocampus in older adults predicted reduced memory for negative than neutral images and the opposite for young adults. Seed PLS analysis further showed that following negative cues older adults, but not young adults, exhibited greater activation of vmPFC, reduced activation of amygdala, and worse memory for negative compared with neutral images. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence that the “positivity effect” seen in older adults’ memory performance may be related to the spontaneous emotional suppression of negative affect in anticipation of, not just in response to, negative stimuli.

scholarly journals Knowledge guides attention to goal-relevant information in older adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maverick E. Smith ◽  
Lester C. Loschky ◽  
Heather R. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Attention And Memory ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Age Related

AbstractHow does viewers’ knowledge guide their attention while they watch everyday events, how does it affect their memory, and does it change with age? Older adults have diminished episodic memory for everyday events, but intact semantic knowledge. Indeed, research suggests that older adults may rely on their semantic memory to offset impairments in episodic memory, and when relevant knowledge is lacking, older adults’ memory can suffer. Yet, the mechanism by which prior knowledge guides attentional selection when watching dynamic activity is unclear. To address this, we studied the influence of knowledge on attention and memory for everyday events in young and older adults by tracking their eyes while they watched videos. The videos depicted activities that older adults perform more frequently than young adults (balancing a checkbook, planting flowers) or activities that young adults perform more frequently than older adults (installing a printer, setting up a video game). Participants completed free recall, recognition, and order memory tests after each video. We found age-related memory deficits when older adults had little knowledge of the activities, but memory did not differ between age groups when older adults had relevant knowledge and experience with the activities. Critically, results showed that knowledge influenced where viewers fixated when watching the videos. Older adults fixated less goal-relevant information compared to young adults when watching young adult activities, but they fixated goal-relevant information similarly to young adults, when watching more older adult activities. Finally, results showed that fixating goal-relevant information predicted free recall of the everyday activities for both age groups. Thus, older adults may use relevant knowledge to more effectively infer the goals of actors, which guides their attention to goal-relevant actions, thus improving their episodic memory for everyday activities.

scholarly journals Learning by insight as a potential strategy to improve memory encoding in older adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmin M. Kizilirmak ◽  
Larissa Fischer ◽  
Justus Krause ◽  
Joram Soch ◽  
Anni Richter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Equal Proportion ◽  
Similar Frequency

Several cognitive functions show a decline with advanced age, most prominently episodic memory. Problem-solving by insight represents a special associative form of problem-solving that has previously been shown to facilitate long-term memory formation. Recent neuroimaging evidence suggests that the encoding network involved in insight-based memory formation is largely hippocampus-independent. This may represent a potential advantage in older adults, as the hippocampus is one of the earliest brain structures to show age-related volume loss and functional impairment. Here, we investigated the potential beneficial effects of learning by insight in healthy older (60-79 years) compared to young adults (19-28 years). To this end, we compared later memory performance for verbal riddles encoded incidentally via insight-like induced sudden comprehension in both age groups. We employed a variant of the Compound Remote Associate Task (CRAT) for incidental encoding, during which participants were instructed to judge the solvability of items. In a 24-hour delayed surprise memory test, participants attempted to solve previously encountered items and additionally performed a recognition memory test. During this test, older adults correctly solved an equal proportion of new items compared to young adults and both age groups reported a similar frequency of Aha! experiences. While overall memory performance was better in young participants (higher proportion of correctly solved and correctly recognized old items), older participants exhibited a stronger beneficial effect of insight on later recognition memory for previously presented items. Our results thus show that learning via insight might constitute a promising approach to improve memory function in old age.

scholarly journals Learning by Insight-Like Sudden Comprehension as a Potential Strategy to Improve Memory Encoding in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmin M. Kizilirmak ◽  
Larissa Fischer ◽  
Justus Krause ◽  
Joram Soch ◽  
Anni Richter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Equal Proportion ◽  
Similar Frequency

Several cognitive functions show a decline with advanced age, most prominently episodic memory. Problem-solving by insight represents a special associative form of problem-solving that has previously been shown to facilitate long-term memory formation. Recent neuroimaging evidence suggests that the encoding network involved in insight-based memory formation is largely hippocampus-independent. This may represent a potential advantage in older adults, as the hippocampus is one of the earliest brain structures to show age-related volume loss and functional impairment. Here, we investigated the potential beneficial effects of learning by insight in healthy older (60–79 years) compared to young adults (19–28 years). To this end, we compared later memory performance for verbal riddles encoded incidentally via induced insight-like sudden comprehension in both age groups. We employed a variant of the Compound Remote Associate Task (CRAT) for incidental encoding, during which participants were instructed to judge the solvability of items. In a 24-h delayed surprise memory test, participants attempted to solve previously encountered items and additionally performed a recognition memory test. During this test, older adults correctly solved an equal proportion of new CRA items compared to young adults and both age groups reported a similar frequency of Aha! experiences. While overall memory performance was better in young participants (higher proportion of correctly solved and correctly recognized old CRA items), older participants exhibited a stronger beneficial effect of insight-like sudden comprehension on later recognition memory for CRA items. Our results suggest that learning via insight might constitute a promising approach to improve memory function in old age.

The Effects of Divided Attention on Encoding- and Retrieval-Related Brain Activity: A PET Study of Younger and Older Adults

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 775-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole D. Anderson ◽  
Tetsuya Iidaka ◽  
Roberto Cabeza ◽  
Shitij Kapur ◽  
Anthony R. McIntosh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Encoding And Retrieval

Divided attention (DA) disrupts episodic encoding, but has little effect on episodic retrieval. Furthermore, normal aging is associated with episodic memory impairments, and when young adults are made to encode information under DA conditions, their memory performance is reduced and resembles that of old adults working under full attention (FA) conditions. Together, these results suggest a common neurocognitive mechanism by which aging and DA during encoding disrupt memory performance. In the current study, we used PET to investigate younger and older adults' brain activity during encoding and retrieval under FA and DA conditions. In FA conditions, the old adults showed reduced activity in prefrontal regions that younger adults activated preferentially during encoding or retrieval, as well as increased activity in prefrontal regions young adults did not activate. These results indicate that prefrontal functional specificity of episodic memory is reduced by aging. During encoding, DA reduced memory performance, and reduced brain activity in left-prefrontal and medial-temporal lobe regions for both age groups, indicating that DA during encoding interferes with encoding processes that lead to better memory performance. During retrieval, memory performance and retrieval-related brain activity were relatively immune to DA for both age groups, suggesting that DA during retrieval does not interfere with the brain systems necessary for successful retrieval. Finally, left inferior prefrontal activity was reduced similarly by aging and by DA during encoding, suggesting that the behavioral correspondence between these effects is the result of a reduced ability to engage in elaborate encoding operations.

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 Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

Changes in the Dynamic Stability of Walking in Active Healthy Older Adults Independent of Changes in Walking Speed

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun Gu Kang ◽  
Jonathan B. Dingwell
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Dynamic Stability ◽  
Walking Speed ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Leg Strength ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Risk Of Falls ◽  
Walking Speeds

Older adults commonly walk slower, which many believe helps improve their walking stability. However, they remain at increased risk of falls. We investigated how differences in age and walking speed independently affect dynamic stability during walking, and how age-related changes in leg strength and ROM affected this relationship. Eighteen active healthy older and 17 younger adults walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes each at each of 5 speeds (80–120% of preferred). Local divergence exponents and maximum Floquet multipliers (FM) were calculated to quantify each subject’s responses to small inherent perturbations during walking. These older adults exhibited the same preferred walking speeds as the younger subjects (p = 0.860). However, these older adults still exhibited greater local divergence exponents (p<0.0001) and higher maximum FM (p<0.007) than young adults at all walking speeds. These older adults remained more unstable (p<0.04) even after adjusting for declines in both strength and ROM. In both age groups, local divergence exponents decreased at slower speeds and increased at faster speeds (p<0.0001). Maximum FM showed similar changes with speed (p<0.02). The older adults in this study were healthy enough to walk at normal speeds. However, these adults were still more unstable than the young adults, independent of walking speed. This greater instability was not explained by loss of leg strength and ROM. Slower speeds led to decreased instability in both groups.

scholarly journals Age-related Differences in Brain Activity during True and False Memory Retrieval

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1390-1402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Dennis ◽  
Hongkeun Kim ◽  
Roberto Cabeza
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Age Related

Compared to young adults, older adults show not only a reduction in true memories but also an increase in false memories. We investigated the neural bases of these age effects using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a false memory task that resembles the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Young and older participants were scanned during a word recognition task that included studied words and new words that were strongly associated with studied words (critical lures). During correct recognition of studied words (true memory), older adults showed weaker activity than young adults in the hippocampus but stronger activity than young adults in the retrosplenial cortex. The hippocampal reduction is consistent with age-related deficits in recollection, whereas the retrosplenial increase suggests compensatory recruitment of alternative recollection-related regions. During incorrect recognition of critical lures (false memory), older adults displayed stronger activity than young adults in the left lateral temporal cortex, a region involved in semantic processing and semantic gist. Taken together, the results suggest that older adults' deficits in true memories reflect a decline in recollection processes mediated by the hippocampus, whereas their increased tendency to have false memories reflects their reliance on semantic gist mediated by the lateral temporal cortex.

scholarly journals Older adults show a more sustained pattern of effortful listening than young adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronan McGarrigle ◽  
Sarah Knight ◽  
Lyndon Rakusen ◽  
Jason Geller ◽  
Sven Mattys
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Adult Group ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Listening Task

Listening to speech in adverse conditions can be challenging and effortful, especially for older adults. This study examined age-related differences in effortful listening by recording changes in the task-evoked pupil response (TEPR; a physiological marker of listening effort) both at the level of sentence processing and over the entire course of a listening task. A total of 65 (32 young adults; 33 older adults) participants performed a speech recognition task in the presence of a competing talker, while moment-to-moment changes in pupil size were continuously monitored. Participants were also administered the Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale; a questionnaire assessing daily life listening fatigue within four domains (social, cognitive, emotional, physical). Normalized TEPRs were overall larger and more steeply rising and falling around the peak in the older versus the young adult group during sentence processing. Additionally, mean TEPRs over the course of the listening task were more stable in the older versus the young adult group, consistent with a more sustained recruitment of compensatory attentional resources to maintain task performance. No age-related differences were found in terms of total daily life listening fatigue; however, older adults reported higher scores than young adults within the social domain. Overall, this study provides evidence for qualitatively distinct patterns of physiological arousal between young and older adults consistent with age-related upregulation in resource allocation during listening. A more detailed understanding of age-related changes in the subjective and physiological mechanisms that underlie effortful listening will ultimately help to address complex communication needs in aging listeners.

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