Age and Race-Related Differences in Sleep Discontinuity Linked to Associative Memory Performance and Its Neural Underpinnings

Associative learning underlies the formation of new episodic memories. Associative memory improves across development, and this age-related improvement is supported by the development of the hippocampus and pFC. Recent work, however, additionally suggests a role for visual association cortex in the formation of associative memories. This study investigated the role of category-preferential visual processing regions in associative memory across development using a paired associate learning task in a sample of 56 youths (age 6–19 years). Participants were asked to bind an emotional face with an object while undergoing fMRI scanning. Outside the scanner, participants completed a memory test. We first investigated age-related changes in neural recruitment and found linear age-related increases in activation in lateral occipital cortex and fusiform gyrus, which are involved in visual processing of objects and faces, respectively. Furthermore, greater activation in these visual processing regions was associated with better subsequent memory for pairs over and above the effect of age and of hippocampal and pFC activation on performance. Recruitment of these visual processing regions mediated the association between age and memory performance, over and above the effects of hippocampal activation. Taken together, these findings extend the existing literature to suggest that greater recruitment of category-preferential visual processing regions during encoding of associative memories is a neural mechanism explaining improved memory across development.

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No Evidence for Improved Associative Memory Performance Following Process-Based Associative Memory Training in Older Adults

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2016.00326 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Martin Bellander ◽

Anne Eschen ◽

Martin Lövdén ◽

Mike Martin ◽

Lars Bäckman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Associative Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Training

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Determinants of associative memory performance in spiking and non-spiking neural networks with different synaptic plasticity regimes

BMC Neuroscience ◽

10.1186/1471-2202-13-s1-p156 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 13 (S1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alex Metaxas ◽

Reinoud Maex ◽

Rod Adams ◽

Volker Steuber ◽

Neil Davey

Keyword(s):

Neural Networks ◽

Synaptic Plasticity ◽

Associative Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Spiking Neural Networks

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Increased Response-time Variability is Associated with Reduced Inferior Parietal Activation during Episodic Recognition in Aging

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2008.20502 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 779-786 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Stuart W. S. MacDonald ◽

Lars Nyberg ◽

Johan Sandblom ◽

Håkan Fischer ◽

Lars Bäckman

Keyword(s):

Parietal Cortex ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Blood Oxygenation ◽

Time Variability ◽

Behavioral Variability ◽

Response Latencies ◽

Oxygenation Level ◽

Brain Correlates ◽

Neural Underpinnings

Intraindividual variability (IIV) in cognitive performance shares systematic associations with aging-related processes, brain injury, and neurodegenerative pathology. However, little research has examined the neural underpinnings of IIV, with no studies investigating brain correlates of IIV in relation to retrieval success. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined links between IIV, recognition memory performance, and blood oxygenation level dependent activations. Nineteen older adults (70–79 years) were presented with 80 words at encoding, with brain scans and response latencies obtained during subsequent recognition. An index of IIV, the intraindividual standard deviation (ISD), was computed across successful latency trials. Decreasing ISDs were systematically associated with better recognition, faster latencies, and increased activation in the inferior parietal cortex (BA 40). Demonstrated links between less behavioral variability and parietal activations are consistent with the known importance of the parietal cortex for retrieval success. In support of extant findings and theory from neuroscience, neuropsychology, and cognitive aging, the present results suggest that behavioral IIV represents a proxy for neural integrity.

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Do Intensive Studies of a Foreign Language Improve Associative Memory Performance?

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00012 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Johan Mårtensson ◽

Martin Lövdén

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Associative Memory ◽

Memory Performance

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I know your face but can’t remember your name: Age-related differences in the FNAME-12NL

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acaa107 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

S Enriquez-Geppert ◽

J F Flores-Vázquez ◽

M Lietz ◽

M Garcia-Pimenta ◽

P Andrés

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Associative Memory ◽

Recognition Performance ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Age Groups ◽

Systematic Investigation ◽

Age Effects ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Effects Of Aging

Abstract Objective The Face-Name Associative Memory test (FNAME) has recently received attention as a test for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. So far, however, there has been no systematic investigation of the effects of aging. Here, we aimed to assess the extent to which the FNAME performance is modulated by normal ageing. Method In a first step, we adapted the FNAME material to the Dutch population. In a second step, younger (n = 29) and older adults (n = 29) were compared on recall and recognition performance. Results Significant age effects on name recall were observed after the first exposure of new face-name pairs: younger adults remembered eight, whereas older adults remembered a mean of four out of twelve names. Although both age groups increased the number of recalled names with repeated face-name exposure, older adults did not catch up with the performance of the younger adults, and the age-effects remained stable. Despite of that, both age groups maintained their performance after a 30-min delay. Considering recognition, no age differences were demonstrated, and both age groups succeeded in the recognition of previously shown faces and names when presented along with distractors. Conclusions This study presents for the first time the results of different age groups regarding cross-modal associative memory performance on the FNAME. The recall age effects support the hypothesis of age-related differences in associative memory. To use the FNAME as an early cognitive biomarker, further subscales are suggested to increase sensitivity and specificity in the clinical context.

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