Paranormal Experience Profiles and Their Association With Variations in Executive Functions: A Latent Profile Analysis

This study investigated relationships between inter-class variations in paranormal experience and executive functions. A sample of 516 adults completed self-report measures assessing personal encounter-based paranormal occurrences (i.e., Experience, Practitioner Visiting, and Ability), executive functions (i.e., General Executive Function, Working and Everyday Memory, and Decision Making) together with Emotion Regulation and Belief in the Paranormal. Paranormal belief served as a measure of convergent validity for experience-based phenomena. Latent profile analysis (LPA) combined experience-based indices into four classes based on sample subpopulation scores. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) then examined interclass differences. Results revealed that breadth of paranormal experience was associated with higher levels of executive functioning difficulties for General Executive Function, Working Memory, Decision Making, and Belief in the Paranormal. On the Everyday Memory Questionnaire, scores differed on Attention Tracking (focus loss) and Factor 3 (visual reconstruction), but not Retrieval (distinct memory failure). In the case of the Emotion Regulation Scale, class scores varied on Expressive Suppression (control), however, no difference was evident on Cognitive Reappraisal (reframing). Overall, inter-class comparisons identified subtle differences in executive functions related to experience. Since the present study was exploratory, sampled only a limited subset of executive functions, and used subjective, self-report measures, further research is necessary to confirm these outcomes. This should employ objective tests and include a broader range of executive functions.

A Virtual Kitchen Protocol to Measure Everyday Memory Functioning for Meal Preparation

In this study, we developed the Virtual Kitchen Protocol (VKP), a virtual reality-based measure of everyday memory functioning for meal preparation tasks. We investigated the construct validity of the VKP by comparing the performance of young adults (n = 41) and older adults without (n = 52) and with (n = 7) a neurocognitive diagnosis, as well as by examining correlations with standardized measures of verbal and visual memory. The results show that young adults had higher recall than older adults and that the VKP was sensitive to neurocognitive impairment among older adults. The VKP demonstrated moderate to high correlations with other memory tests. These results support the construct validity of the VKP and suggest that it holds promise as a virtual reality-based measure of memory for meal preparation tasks.

Everyday Memory in People with Down Syndrome

Although memory functions in people with Down Syndrome (DS) have been studied extensively, how well people with DS remember things about everyday life is not well understood. In the current study, 31 adolescents/young adults with DS and 26 with intellectual disabilities (ID) of mixed etiology (not DS) participated. They completed an everyday memory questionnaire about personal facts and recent events (e.g., school name, breakfast). They also completed a standard laboratory task of verbal long-term memory (LTM) where they recalled a list of unrelated words over trials. Results did not indicate impaired everyday memory, but impaired verbal LTM, in people with DS relative to people with mixed ID. Furthermore, the laboratory verbal LTM task predicted everyday memory for both groups after taking into account mental age equivalent. Our research showed both an independence and a connection between everyday memory and the standard laboratory memory task and has important research and clinical implications.

Visual, Verbal and Everyday Memory 2 Years After Bariatric Surgery: Poorer Memory Performance at 1-Year Follow-Up

Severe obesity has been associated with reduced performance on tests of verbal memory in bariatric surgery candidates. There is also some evidence that bariatric surgery leads to improved verbal memory, yet these findings need further elucidation. Little is known regarding postoperative memory changes in the visual domain and how patients subjectively experience their everyday memory after surgery. The aim of the current study was to repeat and extend prior findings on postoperative memory by investigating visual, verbal, and self-reported everyday memory following surgery, and to examine whether weight loss and somatic comorbidity predict memory performance. The study was a prospective, observational study in which participants (n = 48) underwent cognitive testing at baseline, 1 and 2 years after bariatric surgery. Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed significantly poorer visual and verbal memory performance at the 1-year follow-up, with performance subsequently returning to baseline levels after 2 years. Verbal learning and self-reported everyday memory did not show significant postoperative changes. Memory performance at 1 year was not significantly predicted by weight loss, changes in C-reactive protein levels or postoperative somatic comorbidity (Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and hypertension). The study demonstrated poorer visual and verbal memory performance at 1-year follow-up that returned to baseline levels after 2 years. These findings are in contrast to most previous studies and require further replication, however, the results indicate that postoperative memory improvements following bariatric surgery are not universal. Findings suggest that treatment providers should also be aware of patients potentially having poorer memory at 1 year following surgery.

Fostering Self-Management of Everyday Memory in Older Adults: A New Intervention Approach

Traditional memory strategy training interventions improve older adults’ performance on tests of episodic memory, but have limited transfer to episodic memory tasks, let alone to everyday memory. We argue that an alternative approach is needed to assist older adults to compensate for age-related cognitive declines and to maintain functional capacity in their own natural ecologies. We outline a set of principles regarding how interventions can successfully train older adults to increase successful goal pursuit to reduce risks of everyday memory failures. We argue that training individuals to use metacognitive self-regulatory strategies to proactively manage formulation and pursuit of daily goals can compensate for age-related cognitive changes and increase the likelihood of goal attainment. We then describe an intervention approach that instantiates these principles in a multi-modal intervention that is unique in its three-phase approach: (1) individualized assessment of an individual’s current approaches to self-regulation; (2) training memory strategies, self-management skills, and new habits of mind in a group training context; and (3) a behavioral shaping period in which individuals receive coaching and feedback on their efforts to use trained procedures to improve everyday cognition. A recently completed study conducted an initial test of the intervention, with highly encouraging results. We advocate further efforts to replicate, extend, and fine-tune this type of intervention. The ultimate goal is to be able to deliver the intervention in a way that increases its potential reach, including to subpopulations of older adults at risk for everyday cognitive impairments.

Initial Results From an Everyday Memory and Metacognitive Intervention for Older Adults

We report results from a new intervention study implementing an Everyday Memory and Metacognitive Intervention (EMMI). This intervention trains older adults on self-regulatory procedures for achieving everyday life goals by implementing a metacognitive perspective where participants learn mindful control over life tasks that place demands on planning and memory (e.g., learning new names and managing prospective memory demands). Fifty-three participants, age range 65 to 83, were assigned to either the EMMI treatment group (n = 32, mean age = 70.13, SD = 3.2) or a waitlist control group (n = 21, mean age = 71.76, SD = 4.7). Individuals with probable memory impairments, as indexed by low MOCA scores, were excluded from the study. Outcomes included daily diary reports of everyday memory errors and a prospective memory telephone task. EMMI participants had fewer reported memory errors per day (M = 0.42) than controls (M = 0.64), one-tailed p = .03. EMMI participants also performed better than controls on the telephone task outcome variables: total number of phone calls completed and mean absolute deviation of call times from scheduled times for successfully completed calls (ps<.001). Subjective outcomes, including personal memory beliefs, life satisfaction, and perceived stress, showed greater pretest-posttest improvement in the EMMI group compared to the control group. This study is a successful initial demonstration of the efficacy of our intervention for improving everyday cognition in older adults and highlights the possibility of improving success in memory-demanding everyday life contexts, thereby contributing to resilient aging in an older population.