scholarly journals The role of reduced working memory resources in the associative deficit of older adults

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Yoko Hara
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Processing Resources

Previous research indicates that older adults show problems with remembering associations compared to young adults, yet they remember single pieces of information about as well as young adults do (see Naveh-Benjamin, 2000). The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether reduced working memory (WM) resources affect associative memory and whether such a reduction can account for older adults’ associative deficit. Three experiments investigated whether we can simulate an associative deficit in young adults by using secondary tasks that increase their WM loads (either via increasing storage or processing demands of the secondary task) during a primary task in which they were required to learn name-face pairs and then remember the names, the faces, and the name-face associations. Results show that reducing both the storage and the processing resources of WM each produced an associative deficit in young adults. However, further increasing the demands of the secondary task for WM processing resources gradually increased the size of the associative deficit, whereas increasing the demands of the secondary task for WM storage resources did not differentially affect associative memory performance. Furthermore, younger adults with low-WM span or low-online processing showed an associative deficit under full attention conditions compared to young adults with high-WM span or high-online processing. High-WM span/processing individuals also showed an associative deficit when the processing or storage demands on WM increased. In summary, the present studies showed that one possible reason older adults have an associative deficit is a reduction in their WM resources, especially those related to WM processing.

scholarly journals A simulation of older adults’ associative memory deficit using structural process interference in young adults

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0258574
Author(s):  
Yafit Oscar-Strom ◽  
Jonathan Guez
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Memory Deficit ◽  
Associative Recognition ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Associative Deficit

Associative memory deficit underlies a part of older adults’ deficient episodic memory due to the reduced ability to bind units of information. In this article we further assess the mechanism underlying this deficit, by assessing the degree to which we can model it in young adults under conditions of divided attention. We shall describe two experiments in this paper; these experiments investigate item and associative recognition in young adults under full- or divided-attention conditions. The secondary tasks employed were N-back like (NBL), which serves as a working memory updating task, and parity judgement and visuospatial (VS) tasks, which serve as non-working memory tasks. The results of both experiments show that only the NBL specifically affected associative recognition, while the other tasks affected item and associative memory to the same degree, indicating a general resource competition. These results presented a convergence of evidence for the associative deficit in older adults by modelling it in young adults.

Implicit Relational Memory in Young and Older Adults

2007 ◽  
Vol 215 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana T.Z. Dew ◽  
Ute J. Bayen ◽  
Kelly S. Giovanello
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Implicit Memory ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Relational Memory ◽  
Memory Research ◽  
New Associations ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Theoretical Issues

Abstract. Older adults do not perform as well as young adults in explicit episodic memory tasks that require the formation and retrieval of new associations. Relatively few studies have investigated the effects of older adults' associative deficit on implicit-memory performance. After introducing the reader to the area of implicit-memory research at large, the authors review studies that have investigated young and older adults' performance in implicit associative memory tasks. Core theoretical issues and methodological challenges are discussed.

scholarly journals Age-related associative memory deficit: simulation and strategies to improve performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Iok Wong
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Encoding Strategies

According to the associative deficit hypothesis, older adults experience greater difficulty in remembering associations between pieces of information (associative memory) than young adults, despite their relatively intact memory for individual items (item memory). Recent research suggests that this deficit might be related to older adults’ reduced availability of attentional resources – the reservoir of mental energy needed for the operations of cognition functions. The purpose of this Dissertation was to examine the role of attentional resources in associative deficit, and to explore encoding manipulations that might alleviate the deficit in older adults. In Study 1, young adults’ attentional resources during encoding of word pairs were depleted using a divided attention task. These participants showed an associative deficit commonly observed in older adults, and were less likely to use effective encoding strategies and recollection-based processes to support their memory in comparison to young adults under full attention. The resemblance in memory performance between young adults under divided attention and older adults suggests that lack of attentional resources might be a contributing factor in older adults’ associative deficit. In Study 2, participants’ resource load during encoding was reduced by learning individual items and their associations sequentially in two phases. Older adults in this condition showed equivalent memory performance to young adults, and were more likely to use effective encoding strategies and recollection-based processes than older adults in Study 1 who studied items and associations simultaneously. Finally, Study 3 employed a value-directed learning paradigm, in which participants studied high- and low-value word pairs. Older adults showed similar memory performance for both high- and low-value word pairs as young adults, without any signs of associative deficit. Assigning value to associative information might prompt older adults to prioritize associative encoding over item encoding, which benefits their associative memory. Taken together, these results suggest that depletion of attentional resources during encoding could impair associative memory. Furthermore, older adults’ associative deficit could be effectively alleviated with sufficient environmental support during encoding, such as when resource competition between item and associative encoding is minimized (Study 2) or when being guided to prioritize encoding of associations over items (Study 3).

scholarly journals Age-related associative memory deficit: simulation and strategies to improve performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Iok Wong
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Encoding Strategies

According to the associative deficit hypothesis, older adults experience greater difficulty in remembering associations between pieces of information (associative memory) than young adults, despite their relatively intact memory for individual items (item memory). Recent research suggests that this deficit might be related to older adults’ reduced availability of attentional resources – the reservoir of mental energy needed for the operations of cognition functions. The purpose of this Dissertation was to examine the role of attentional resources in associative deficit, and to explore encoding manipulations that might alleviate the deficit in older adults. In Study 1, young adults’ attentional resources during encoding of word pairs were depleted using a divided attention task. These participants showed an associative deficit commonly observed in older adults, and were less likely to use effective encoding strategies and recollection-based processes to support their memory in comparison to young adults under full attention. The resemblance in memory performance between young adults under divided attention and older adults suggests that lack of attentional resources might be a contributing factor in older adults’ associative deficit. In Study 2, participants’ resource load during encoding was reduced by learning individual items and their associations sequentially in two phases. Older adults in this condition showed equivalent memory performance to young adults, and were more likely to use effective encoding strategies and recollection-based processes than older adults in Study 1 who studied items and associations simultaneously. Finally, Study 3 employed a value-directed learning paradigm, in which participants studied high- and low-value word pairs. Older adults showed similar memory performance for both high- and low-value word pairs as young adults, without any signs of associative deficit. Assigning value to associative information might prompt older adults to prioritize associative encoding over item encoding, which benefits their associative memory. Taken together, these results suggest that depletion of attentional resources during encoding could impair associative memory. Furthermore, older adults’ associative deficit could be effectively alleviated with sufficient environmental support during encoding, such as when resource competition between item and associative encoding is minimized (Study 2) or when being guided to prioritize encoding of associations over items (Study 3).

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.

scholarly journals Effects of valent image-based secondary tasks on verbal working memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1440-1456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip L Morgan ◽  
Craig Williams ◽  
Fay M Ings ◽  
Nia C Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
International Affective Picture System ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Task Interruption ◽  
Lower Valence

Two experiments examined if exposure to emotionally valent image-based secondary tasks introduced at different points of a free recall working memory (WM) task impair memory performance. Images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) varied in the degree of negative or positive valance (mild, moderate, strong) and were positioned at low, moderate and high WM load points with participants rating them based upon perceived valence. As predicted, and based on previous research and theory, the higher the degree of negative (Experiment 1) and positive (Experiment 2) valence and the higher the WM load when a secondary task was introduced, the greater the impairment to recall. Secondary task images with strong negative valance were more disruptive than negative images with lower valence at moderate and high WM load task points involving encoding and/or rehearsal of primary task words (Experiment 1). This was not the case for secondary tasks involving positive images (Experiment 2), although participant valence ratings for positive IAPS images classified as moderate and strong were in fact very similar. Implications are discussed in relation to research and theory on task interruption and attentional narrowing and literature concerning the effects of emotive stimuli on cognition.

The effects of stereotype threat on the associative memory deficit of older adults

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew S. Brubaker
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Deficit ◽  
Item Memory ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Negative Effect

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] One of the suggestions made in the literature regarding older adults' episodic memory decline is that it is caused by their reduced ability to bind together components of an episode and retrieve the binding (termed an associative deficit). The purpose of the current research is to assess whether the age-related associative memory deficit is at least partially mediated by stereotype threat, which has been shown to negatively affect performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, including memory performance of older adults. To date the effects of stereotype threat on older adults' memory performance have only been shown using tests of item memory, and between subject manipulations. The question assessed in the current research is whether older adults' associative memory will be affected by stereotype threat more than item memory, rendering it one potential factor underlying the associative deficit. To answer this question, three experiments were conducted, which used an item-associative recognition memory paradigm while manipulating stereotype threat both within and between subjects. The first two experiments attempted to establish the baseline effect by directly comparing item and associative memory in younger and older adults under induced stereotype threat, reduced stereotype threat, and no stereotype threat (i.e. control) conditions. While a baseline age-related associative deficit was not shown in the control condition, inducing stereotype threat did have a significant negative effect on older adults' associative memory performance without affecting item memory performance -- suggesting that stereotype threat does increase the age-related associative deficit. The third experiment further assessed the stage of processing -- encoding, retrieval, or both -- during which the effect of stereotype threat on older adults' memory occurs. Results showed that when stereotype threat was induced only at retrieval, memory performance was in line with performance with the reduced stereotype threat and control conditions, suggesting that this effect of stereotype threat occurs primarily during encoding of the information.

scholarly journals Opposite reactions to loss incentive by young and older adults: Insights from diffusion modeling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyesue Jang ◽  
Richard Lewis ◽  
Cindy Lustig
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Retention Interval ◽  
Drift Rate ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Diffusion Modeling

The prospect of loss becomes more salient in later life, and the opportunity to avoid loss is often used to motivate older adults. We examined the effect of loss incentive on working memory in young and older adults. Diffusion-modeling analyses, manipulation of task parameters, and self-report measures identified which aspects of cognitive-motivational processing were most affected within each group. As predicted, loss incentive increased working memory performance and self-reported motivation in young adults, but, consistent with prior work, had the opposite effect in older adults. Diffusion-modeling analyses suggested the primary effect was on the quality of the memory representation (drift rate). Incentive did not interact with retention interval or the number of items in the memory set. Instead, longer retention intervals led to better performance, potentially by improved differentiation between studied items and the unstudied probe as a function of temporal context. Overall, the results do not support theories suggesting that older adults are either more motivated by loss or that they ignore it. Instead, the loss incentive increased young adults' performance and subjective motivation, with opposite effects for older adults. The specific impact on drift rate and lack of interactions with set size or retention interval suggest that rather than affecting load-dependent or strategic processes, the effects occur at a relatively global level related to overall task engagement.

scholarly journals Dose-Dependent Effects of Oral Tyrosine Administration on Plasma Tyrosine Levels and Cognition in Aging

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondine van de Rest ◽  
Mirjam Bloemendaal ◽  
Rianne de Heus ◽  
Esther Aarts
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Body Weight ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Plasma Concentrations ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Plasma Response ◽  
Plasma Tyrosine ◽  
Dose Dependent

The effects of tyrosine on plasma response and cognition in aging are unknown. We assessed the dose-dependent response to tyrosine administration in older adults in both plasma tyrosine concentrations and working memory performance. In this double blind randomized cross-over trial 17 older adults (aged 60-75 years) received a single administration of 100, 150 or 200 mg/kg body weight of tyrosine. For comparison, 17 young adults (aged 18-35 years) received a dose of 150 mg/kg body weight of tyrosine. Tyrosine plasma concentrations were determined before and 90, 120, 150, 180, 210 and 240 minutes after tyrosine intake. Working memory was assessed using the N-back task at 90 minutes after tyrosine administration. Older adults showed a dose-dependent increase in plasma tyrosine concentrations (p<.001), and the plasma response was higher than for young adults with the same dose (p<.001). Load-dependent working memory performance decreased with higher doses of tyrosine (p=.048), especially in older adults with greater dose-dependent plasma tyrosine responses (p=.035). Our results show an age-related increase in plasma tyrosine response, which was associated with a dose-dependent decline in cognitive functioning in older adults.

scholarly journals Following Instructions in Working Memory: Do Older Adults Show the Enactment Advantage?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel O Coats ◽  
Amanda H Waterman ◽  
Fiona Ryder ◽  
Amy L Atkinson ◽  
Richard J Allen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Objectives In young adults, the ability to verbally recall instructions in working memory is enhanced if the sequences are physically enacted by the participant (self-enactment) or the experimenter (demonstration) during encoding. Here we examine the effects of self-enactment and demonstration at encoding on working memory performance in older and younger adults. Method Fifty young (18–23 years) and 40 older (60–89 years) adults listened to sequences of novel action-object pairs before verbally recalling them in the correct order. There were three different encoding conditions: spoken only, spoken + demonstration, and spoken + self-enactment. We included two different levels of difficulty to investigate whether task complexity moderated the effect of encoding condition and whether this differed between age groups. Results Relative to the spoken only condition, demonstration significantly improved young and older adults’ serial recall performance, but self-enactment only enhanced performance in the young adults, and this boost was smaller than the one gained through demonstration. Discussion Our findings suggest that additional spatial-motoric information is beneficial for older adults when the actions are demonstrated to them, but not when the individual must enact the instructions themselves.

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