Executive Control on Memory Test Performance across Life: Test of Memory Strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Abellán-Martínez ◽  
Miguel Ángel Castellanos López ◽  
María Luisa Delgado-Losada ◽  
Raquel Yubero ◽  
Nuria Paúl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Memory Strategies

Abstract The ability to generate memory strategies is a key factor in performance of episodic memory tests. There is evidence about the inefficient use of memory strategies in old adults. However, a question remains unresolved: Worse performance on memory test in the older people is due to an inability to mobilize cognitive strategies or to an episodic memory deficit? In this study we tried to answer it by using the Test of Memory Strategies (TMS), which parametrically reduces the need of executive functions on memory tests. The test consists of five experimental conditions (TMS1–5) where a progressive external organization of the material reduces the need to mobilize memory strategies. TMS was applied to a sample of 180 participants (n = 180) divided into three age groups (25–45; 46–65; 66–85). The results showed an increased performance in all groups groups (F(2, 177) = 14.79, p < .001) across conditions (F(3.88,674.04) = 292.48, p < .001), without group differences in those conditions with a maximum reduction of the need of executive functions (F(7.61,674.04) = 1.95, p = .053). However, middle age and older adults showed more difficulties in establishing cognitive strategies, in the initial conditions. These results lead to the conclusion that the typical pattern of low performance on episodic memory tasks in the older population may be due to the deterioration of executive functions and not mainly to a primary decline of memory process.

Positive Arousal Enhances the Consolidation of Item Memory

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wang
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Source Memory ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Learning Phase ◽  
Item Memory ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Immediate Memory

Emotional arousal induced after learning has been shown to modulate memory consolidation. However, it is unclear whether the effect of postlearning arousal can extend to different aspects of memory. This study examined the effect of postlearning positive arousal on both item memory and source memory. Participants learned a list of neutral words and took an immediate memory test. Then they watched a positive or a neutral videoclip and took delayed memory tests after either 25 minutes or 1 week had elapsed after the learning phase. In both delay conditions, positive arousal enhanced consolidation of item memory as measured by overall recognition. Furthermore, positive arousal enhanced consolidation of familiarity but not recollection. However, positive arousal appeared to have no effect on consolidation of source memory. These findings have implications for building theoretical models of the effect of emotional arousal on consolidation of episodic memory and for applying postlearning emotional arousal as a technique of memory intervention.

scholarly journals M63. TRANSDIAGNOSTIC NEUROCOGNITIVE DEFICITS IN PSYCHIATRY: A REVIEW OF META-ANALYSES

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S159-S159
Author(s):  
Caroline East-Richard ◽  
Alexandra R-Mercier ◽  
Danielle Nadeau ◽  
Caroline Cellard
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Neurocognitive Deficits ◽  
Neurocognitive Impairments ◽  
Meta Analyses

Abstract Background In recent decades, several meta-analyses have documented the severity of neurocognitive impairments in various domains and psychiatric disorders. There is also a growing body of literature on the common factors among psychiatric disorders (e.g., common psychological factors, neurobiological alterations or genetic variants). The first objective of this review was to investigate transdiagnostic neurocognitive impairments across several psychiatric disorders. The second objective was to document transdiagnostic neurocognitive impairments across the life span, to establish whether they are consistent across age. Methods A literature search was conducted in Pubmed, PsycINFO and Embase to identify all meta-analyses of neurocognitive deficits in psychiatry published prior to August, 2017. The following psychiatric disorders were considered: mood disorders, psychotic disorders, autism spectrum disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety disorders. The R-AMSTAR (Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews) was used to assess methodological quality of all retrieved meta-analyses. The final selection included only the most rigorous meta-analyses. Results A total of 36 meta-analyses were included. They documented neurocognitive impairments in schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Neurocognitive impairments were observed in the majority of psychiatric disorders, regardless of age group (childhood/adolescence, first episode, adulthood, elderly). Across all disorders, deficits in executive functions and in episodic memory were the most severe and the most frequently reported. Moreover, severe deficits in executive functions were frequently reported across age groups. Neurocognitive deficits were consistently more severe in schizophrenia compared to other psychiatric disorders, across all age groups. Discussion Neurocognitive impairments were observed in almost all disorders, in all age groups. Some neurocognitive impairments were more frequently reported across all disorders. Indeed, executive functions and episodic memory were severely impaired in almost every age group and psychiatric disorder considered in this review. Deficits in these two domains appear to be transdiagnostic and they remain relatively stable across the life span. Transdiagnostic factors could be key targets for transdiagnostic cognitive interventions in psychiatric populations. Neurobiological, neuropsychological, and genetic hypotheses of transdiagnostic neurocognitive impairments are discussed.

Mode of Instruction and Memory Test Performance

1982 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Rogoff
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Cognitive Test ◽  
Verbal Instruction ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Mode Of Instruction ◽  
High Level ◽  
The U.S

Cross-cultural literature suggests that schooling's effect on cognitive test performance is due to school's reliance on instruction using language removed from its everyday context, in contrast with informal instruction using demonstration of skills. The present study takes advantage of variability in use of verbal instruction and demonstration by mothers teaching their 9-year-olds, in order to test the relation of mode of instruction to memory test performance. In study 1, with 31 children from a society (Highland Mayan) in which much of children's learning occurs through observation, maternal mode of instruction was highly predictive of performance on two verbal memory tests. However, mode of instruction was unrelated to performance on two scene memory tests. Thus, mode of instruction has specific predictiveness to verbal memory skills but not memory performance in general. Study 2 replicated study 1 with 30 U.S. children, and found that the U.S. mothers provided more verbal instruction and less demonstration than the Mayan mothers. In study 2, mode of instruction was not predictive of the children's memory test performance. This may be due to the U.S. children's exposure to a high level of verbal instruction rather than demonstration, a threshold above which further variation is unpredictive. The question whether exposure to verbal instruction vs. demonstration accounts for some of the demonstrated effects of schooling on test performance is answered with a qualified "yes": There is a relationship between maternal mode of instruction and test performance but only for tests relying on verbal material and for children whose exposure to verbal instruction is not as extreme as in Western culture. The effect is not general, and is contextually influenced.

A new test of memory for multiple sclerosis 1: Format development and stimuli design

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
S J Camp ◽  
A J Thompson ◽  
D W Langdon
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Manual Dexterity ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Cognitive Symptoms ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Wide Range

Memory tests were often developed for healthy populations. The accuracy of these measures is reduced when administered to patients with neurological diseases, who may experience physical and/or cognitive symptoms. Also, methodological factors, for example, spanning the ability spectrum, and content/format artefacts, may contribute to a decline in test precision. The aim of this study was to develop a new test of memory, which addresses these issues. The new memory test comprises assessments of recall, paired association, and recognition, at a Task Familiarisation stage and two difficulty levels, for both the verbal and spatial modalities. It was administered to 85 healthy individuals and 100 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). All patients were able to attempt each task of the new assessment, and there was no influence of visual integrity or manual dexterity on memory test performance, supporting the applicability of the tasks to patients with multiple sclerosis. Both the standardisation and validation samples demonstrated a wide range of scores on each section of the new test, suggesting that the measure spanned an acceptably broad range of abilities. It seems probable, therefore, that the new assessment offers a more exact measure of verbal and spatial recall, paired association, and recognition memory.

scholarly journals Memory Test Performance on Analogous Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Tests in Patients with Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna Baldock ◽  
Justin B. Miller ◽  
Gabriel C. Leger ◽  
Sarah Jane Banks
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Nonverbal Memory ◽  
Nonverbal Learning ◽  
Learning Trials

Background: Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) typically have initial deficits in language or changes in personality, while the defining characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is memory impairment. Neuropsychological findings in the two diseases tend to differ, but can be confounded by verbal impairment in FTD impacting performance on memory tests in these patients. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with FTD and 102 patients with AD underwent a neuropsychological assessment before diagnosis. By utilizing analogous versions of a verbal and nonverbal memory test, we demonstrated differences in these two modalities between AD and FTD. Discussion: Better differentiation between AD and FTD is found in a nonverbal memory test, possibly because it eliminates the confounding variable of language deficits found in patients with FTD. These results highlight the importance of nonverbal learning tests with multiple learning trials in diagnostic testing.

Learning From (Test) Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan E. Mitton ◽  
Chris M. Fiacconi
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Recognition Memory Performance ◽  
Study Test ◽  
Explicit Feedback

Abstract. To date there has been relatively little research within the domain of metamemory that examines how individuals monitor their performance during memory tests, and whether the outcome of such monitoring informs subsequent memory predictions for novel items. In the current study, we sought to determine whether spontaneous monitoring of test performance can in fact help individuals better appreciate their memory abilities, and in turn shape future judgments of learning (JOLs). Specifically, in two experiments we examined recognition memory for visual images across three study-test cycles, each of which contained novel images. We found that across cycles, participants’ JOLs did in fact increase, reflecting metacognitive sensitivity to near-perfect levels of recognition memory performance. This finding suggests that individuals can and do monitor their test performance in the absence of explicit feedback, and further underscores the important role that test experience can play in shaping metacognitive evaluations of learning and remembering.

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