Event-Related Potentials Reveal Altered Executive Control Activity in Healthy Elderly With Subjective Memory Complaints

Abstract Memory loss is a major complaint among the elderly population. However, the clinical significance of this symptom is variable and also controversial in the scientific literature. Objective: To compare the cognitive performance of two groups of healthy elderly, one group with and the other without, subjective memory complaints (SMC). Methods: Sixty cognitively intact elderly individuals (39 females and 21 males), aged 69.9±6.3 years and with educational level of 8.5±5.5 years, were included in the study. Participants were submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination and to the Cornell depression scale in order to rule out global cognitive impairment and depression, respectively. Moreover, they answered the MAC-Q, a questionnaire devised to evaluate subjective impression of memory function. Subsequently, they were submitted to the digit span forward and backward, the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery, and to the Frontal Assessment Battery. Results: Twenty-seven individuals had MAC-Q scores <25 and thus were classified as not having SMC, while 33 had MAC-Q scores ³25 and were considered to have SMC. No differences for age, gender, education and MMSE scores were found between the two groups. The comparison between the performance of the groups of complainers and non-complainers on the different cognitive tests yielded no significant difference, although there was a trend toward non-complainers performing better on incidental memory. Conclusions: The presence of SMC was not associated to objective memory impairment or to other cognitive deficits in this group of elderly individuals.

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Early dysfunction of functional connectivity in healthy elderly with subjective memory complaints

AGE ◽

10.1007/s11357-011-9241-5 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 497-506 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Ricardo Bajo ◽

Nazareth P. Castellanos ◽

Maria Eugenia López ◽

José María Ruiz ◽

Pedro Montejo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Healthy Elderly

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Subjective Memory Complaints and Decision Making in Young and Older Adults: An Event-Related Potential Study

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2021.695275 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Ruth Garrido-Chaves ◽

Vanesa Perez ◽

Mario Perez-Alarcón ◽

Isabel Crespo-Sanmiguel ◽

Tiago O. Paiva ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Decision Making ◽

Young Adults ◽

Older People ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Feedback Processing ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Related Potentials

Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) may affect decision-making processes. This study aimed to investigate the neuronal correlates of feedback processing during a decision-making task in young and older adults with and without SMCs. Event-related potentials and behavioral performance during the Iowa gambling task were recorded in a total of 136 participants (65 young adults, 71 older adults). The participants were divided into two groups according to their SMCs (with SMCs: n = 60, without SMCs: n = 76). Feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3 were analyzed in the feedback stage of the decision-making process. Older adults with SMCs scored worse in the ambiguity phase than older adults without SMCs. The FRN latency was longer for losses in older people with SMCs than in older people without SMCs in the first block. No significant differences between young and older adults with and without SMCs were observed in the other ERP measures. Compared to young adults, older adults showed delayed latency in the FRN component and reduced amplitudes and delayed latency in the P3 component. In conclusion, older people with SMCs present deficits in the decision-making process. These deficits are observed at the behavioral level, but also in neural mechanisms of early feedback processing of negative outcomes.

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P3-108: Subjective memory complaints in the healthy elderly

Alzheimer s & Dementia ◽

10.1016/j.jalz.2008.05.1673 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. T550-T551

Author(s):

Christine M. Belden ◽

Donald J. Connor ◽

Charles Adler ◽

Marwan N. Sabbagh

Keyword(s):

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Healthy Elderly

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Factors affecting subjective memory complaints in the AIBL aging study: biomarkers, memory, affect, and age

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610213000665 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (8) ◽

pp. 1307-1315 ◽

Cited By ~ 97

Author(s):

R. Buckley ◽

M. M. Saling ◽

D. Ames ◽

C. C. Rowe ◽

N. T. Lautenschlager ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Decline ◽

Imaging Biomarkers ◽

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Healthy Elderly ◽

Aging Study ◽

Affective Variables

ABSTRACTBackground:The prognostic value of subjective memory complaints (SMCs) in the diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer's type is unclear. While some studies have found an association between SMCs and cognitive decline, many have found a stronger association with depression, which raises questions about their diagnostic utility.Methods:We examined the cross-sectional association between SMC severity (as measured using the MAC-Q, a brief SMC questionnaire) and affect, memory, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers (β-amyloid deposition and the apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOEε4) allele) in healthy elderly controls (HC; M = 78.74 years, SD = 6.7) and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; M = 72.74 years, SD = 8.8). We analyzed a subset of individuals drawn from the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Study of Aging.Results:SMCs were more severe in MCI patients than in HCs. SMC severity was related to affective variables and the interaction between age and group membership (HC/MCI). Within the HC group, SMC severity was related to affective variables only, while severity correlated only with age in the MCI group. SMCs were not related to cognitive variables or AD biomarkers.Conclusion:SMCs were related to solely by poorer mood (greater depressive and anxious symptomatology) in the cognitively healthy elderly however mean levels were subclinical. This finding argues for the assessment of affective symptomatology in conjunction with cognitive assessment in elderly memory complainers. Future AIBL research will focus on assessing other AD biomarkers, such as brain atrophy and Aβ plasma markers, in relation to complaint severity. Once our 36-month follow-up data are collected, we propose to assess whether SMCs can predict future cognitive decline.

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P4-164: QUALITATIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF SUBJECTIVE MEMORY COMPLAINTS IN THE HEALTHY ELDERLY AND INDIVIDUALS WITH MCI

Alzheimer s & Dementia ◽

10.1016/j.jalz.2014.05.1681 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

pp. P849-P850

Author(s):

Rachel Buckley ◽

Michael Saling ◽

David Ames ◽

Christopher Cleon Rowe ◽

Nicola T. Lautenschlager ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thematic Analysis ◽

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Healthy Elderly ◽

Qualitative Thematic Analysis

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Increased biomagnetic activity in healthy elderly with subjective memory complaints

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2010.08.004 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 122 (3) ◽

pp. 499-505 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Fernando Maestu ◽

Evgenia Baykova ◽

José María Ruiz ◽

Pedro Montejo ◽

Mercedes Montenegro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Healthy Elderly

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Eliciting and Recording Event Related Potentials (ERPs) in Behaviourally Unresponsive Populations: A Retrospective Commentary on Critical Factors

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11070835 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 835

Author(s):

Alexander Rokos ◽

Richard Mah ◽

Rober Boshra ◽

Amabilis Harrison ◽

Tsee Leng Choy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Critical Factors ◽

Healthy Elderly ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Long Latency ◽

Eeg Data ◽

Related Potentials ◽

The Relationship

A consistent limitation when designing event-related potential paradigms and interpreting results is a lack of consideration of the multivariate factors that affect their elicitation and detection in behaviorally unresponsive individuals. This paper provides a retrospective commentary on three factors that influence the presence and morphology of long-latency event-related potentials—the P3b and N400. We analyze event-related potentials derived from electroencephalographic (EEG) data collected from small groups of healthy youth and healthy elderly to illustrate the effect of paradigm strength and subject age; we analyze ERPs collected from an individual with severe traumatic brain injury to illustrate the effect of stimulus presentation speed. Based on these critical factors, we support that: (1) the strongest paradigms should be used to elicit event-related potentials in unresponsive populations; (2) interpretation of event-related potential results should account for participant age; and (3) speed of stimulus presentation should be slower in unresponsive individuals. The application of these practices when eliciting and recording event-related potentials in unresponsive individuals will help to minimize result interpretation ambiguity, increase confidence in conclusions, and advance the understanding of the relationship between long-latency event-related potentials and states of consciousness.

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An ERP study on facial emotion processing in young people with subjective memory complaints

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-90861-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Vanesa Perez ◽

Ruth Garrido-Chaves ◽

Mario Perez-Alarcón ◽

Tiago O. Paiva ◽

Matias M. Pulopulos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Early Stage ◽

Emotion Processing ◽

Affective State ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Facial Emotion Processing

AbstractSubjective memory complaints (SMCs) are commonly related to aging, but they are also presented by young adults. Their neurophysiological mechanisms are not thoroughly understood, although some aspects related to affective state have been mentioned. Here, we investigated whether facial emotion processing is different in young people with (n = 41) and without (n = 39) SMCs who were exposed to positive, negative, and neutral faces, by recording the event-related potential (ERP) activity. From the ERP activity, the N170 (an index of face processing) and the LPP (an index of motivated attention) components were extracted. Regarding the N170, results showed less amplitude for positive and neutral faces in the participants with SMCs than in those without SMCs. Moreover, women with SMCs displayed longer latencies for neutral faces than women without SMCs. No significant differences were found between the groups in the LPP component. Together, our findings suggest deficits in an early stage of facial emotion processing in young people with SMCs, and they emphasize the importance of further examining affective dimensions.

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Z-score neurofeedback, heart rate variability biofeedback, and brain coaching for older adults with memory concerns

Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience ◽

10.3233/rnn-201053 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-29

Author(s):

Kyle D. Meeuwsen ◽

Kayleah M. Groeneveld ◽

Linda A. Walker ◽

Anna M. Mennenga ◽

Rachel K. Tittle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Boot Camp ◽

Relative Power ◽

Z Score ◽

Subjective Memory Complaints ◽

Subjective Memory ◽

Memory Complaints ◽

Anxiety Depression

Background: The three-month, multidomain Memory Boot Camp program incorporates z-score neurofeedback (NFB), heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, and one-on-one coaching to teach memory skills and encourage behavior change in diet, sleep, physical fitness, and stress reduction. Objective: This prospective trial evaluates the Memory Boot Camp program for adults ages 55 to 85 with symptoms of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and subjective memory complaints. Methods: Participants were evaluated via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), NeuroTrax Global Cognitive Index, measures of anxiety, depression, sleep, quality of life, quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), and HRV parameters at four timepoints: baseline, pre-program, post-program, and follow-up. The trial included a three-month waiting period between baseline and pre-program, such that each participant acted as their own control, and follow-up took place six months after completion of the program. Results: Participants’ MoCA scores and self-reported measures of anxiety, depression, sleep quality, and quality of life improved after treatment, and these changes were maintained at follow-up. Physiological changes in HRV parameters after treatment were not significant, however, breathing rate and QEEG parameters were improved at post-program and maintained at follow-up. Finally, participants’ improvement in MoCA score over the treatment period was correlated with their improvement in two brain oscillation parameters targeted by the z-score NFB protocol: relative power of delta and relative power of theta. Conclusions: Trial results suggest that the Memory Boot Camp program is a promising treatment strategy for older adults with symptoms of MCI and subjective memory complaints.

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