Age-group comparisons of paired-associate learning as a function of paced and self-paced association and response times

Ancient Mnemonic in New Format-Episodic Memory Training With the Method of Loci in a Smart Phone Application

Objectives

Episodic memory is age-sensitive but can be strengthened by targeted training interventions. The method of loci (MoL) is a classic mnemonic which if successfully implemented greatly improves memory performance. We developed and investigated the effects of a MoL training program implemented in a smart phone application (app) with the aim of studying usage of the application, training effect and its modifiability by age, predictors for MoL proficiency, transfer effects to a face-name memory task, and perceived benefit in everyday memory.

Method

A total of 359 adults participated. Instruction and training of the MoL, transfer test (face-name paired associates cued recall task), and surveys were performed in an in-house developed app.

Results

The app interested people across the adult life span. Older adults practiced the most, whereas younger and young-old participants showed the highest level of MoL proficiency. Level of proficiency was modulated by amount of practice, but in the oldest participants this effect was less pronounced. Greater self-rated health was associated with higher level of proficiency. No transfer effect was observed. Among those who answered the survey, about half expressed that MoL training had benefitted memory in their everyday life.

Discussion

App-based memory training in the MoL can be delivered successfully via an app across the adult life span. Level of performance reached in training is variable but generally high, and mainly influenced by amount of training and age of the participants. Our data suggest plasticity across the life span, but to a lesser degree for adults between 70 and 90 years.

Relate it! Objective and subjective evaluation of mediator-based strategies for improving source memory in younger and older adults

The present study examined younger and older adults' ability to improve their source memory for different types of sources through imaginal and verbal (sentence) mediators. Younger (18-29 years) and older (60-75 years) adults' strategy use and source memory for either text-type (bold vs italic) or person (woman vs man) sources was assessed; strategy use was either spontaneous or the generation of imaginal mediators was instructed before encoding. Younger and older adults did not differ in spontaneous use of mediator-based strategies; however, older adults generated more images but fewer verbal mediators than younger adults. Participants were able to increase mediator generation when instructed to, resulting in substantial increases in both item and source memory for the instructed conditions in both age groups. Use of verbal mediators was more likely for the more concrete person sources for which source memory was generally better. Importantly, these objective benefits of mediator-based strategies translated into subjective benefits for both younger and older adults: Increased use of either mediator type was correlated with lower experienced task difficulty; the instructions to use imaginal mediators resulted in a significant decrease in difficulty ratings on the group level. Participants were generally able to monitor mediator benefits to both item and source memory and accurately judged mediator strategies (especially imagery) as more effective than repetition; older adults, however, rated all strategies as less effective than younger adults. Implications of these findings, especially for neuropsychological studies on source monitoring, are discussed.

Implications of Geropsychological Research for the Instruction of Older Adults

After summarizing the findings of laboratory experimental geropsychological research pertinent to the instruction of older adults, this review focused on delineating the explicit implications of the research for adult education. Thirty-six implications were culled from the literature and categorized under ten instructional variables. In addition, the relevance of these implications for managing the functions of instruction enumerated by Gagne was demonstrated. Additional research was advocated that (1) ascer tains the impact of organizational aids on the learning of textual material; (2) explicates age functions by systematic intervention research; (3) examines tasks/situations in which older adults per form as well as or better than young adults; and (4) tests hypo theses derived from laboratory work in real-life situations.

Apprehension, Memory, and Fluid Intelligence Decline in Adulthood

The principal results of three separate studies are described within the context of a recent formulation of the theory of fluid (Gf) and crystalized (Gc) intelligence. The focus of the report is on the adulthood decline of Gf. This decline is found to be in the vicinity of between 3 and 7 IQ points per decade over a period between roughly 30 and 60 years of age. The studies were designed to indicate the extert to which this decline could be explained as due to aging defects in processes of sensory detection, immediate apprehension, short-term memory, en-coding organization, attentiveness, concentration, hypothesis generation, speediness, carefulness, and persistence. The results suggested that Gf decline is associated mainly with defects in processes of organizing information; becoming alert to new information; ignoring irrelevancies; concentrating, maintaining, and dividing attention; and holding information in working memory. It seems that Gf decline mainly reflects loss of capacity, but decrease in inclination to "get up" for difficult tasks may also be involved, and there are possibilities that the results reflect, in part, cohort differences.

Cognition and Elderly People

An overview of the experimental literature on ageing and cognition in the areas of sensation and perception, attention and performance, learning and memory, and intelligence and problem solving is provided. The review indicates definite deficits in most functions, and therefore provides a basis for understanding the origin of the stereotypes of the elderly as senile, obsolete, and useless. However, when viewed in a broad, integrated perspective, there seems to be grounds for a less pessimistic outlook than most people have. The most positive findings are some recent ones in the area of memory, which show that the elderly are able to make use of the knowledge they have accumulated over a lifetime to perform some tasks as good as or better than younger adults. Some researchers have begun to lay plans for the development of intervention programmes for the elderly, and we suggest some areas which may be profitable for further development. There are, however, some difficult motivational issues that need to be dealt with. It seems that many elderly persons claim to be functioning to their own satisfaction, from a cognitive perspective.

Using previous knowledge to teach elderly clients

1. Fluid intelligence decreases while crystallized intelligence continues to increase over the life span. 2. Nurses should determine what patients already know about how to care for themselves. 3. Nurses may help patients to learn better by intentionally basing new information on what patients already know.

Remember when...? Using mnemonics to boost memory in the elderly

Memory loss associated with normal aging is frequently confused with dementia. Self-perceived memory loss can lead to social withdrawal, which can contribute to an ongoing pattern of memory impairment. Memory instruction utilizing mnemonic techniques can lead to improvement in both memory and self-esteem in the elderly. A simple, four-session mnemonics instruction program can provide an effective intervention to assist older persons in coping with memory problems.

Adult age differences in cross-modal recoding and mental tempo, and older adults' utilization of compensatory task conditions

Free recall performance of younger and older adults was examined in three modes of presentation: visually presented sentences, auditorily presented sentences, and bimodally (visually + auditorily) presented sentences. For all modes, the sentences were presented at slow or fast rates. The main result was a three-way interaction between age, mode, and rate. The younger adults performed at the same level in all three modes at a slow rate of presentation, and at a higher level in the bimodal task than in the unimodal tasks at a fast rate of presentation. The elderly, on the other hand, performed at the highest level in the bimodal task regardless of rate of presentation. In addition, the younger adults outperformed the elderly in all mode by rate combinations; however, attenuated age differences in recall were observed for the bimodally presented sentences at a slow presentation rate. It is suggested that the adult aging process is associated with deficits in cross-modal recoding and rate of processing. Finally, the capability of older adults to utilize compensatory task conditions is discussed.

Response time and health care learning of elderly patients

The purpose of this study was to determine if elderly patients perform better in health care learning when provided slower or self-paced response conditions. The sample consisted of 105 institutionalized elderly people randomly assigned to three response groups: fast-paced, slow-paced, and self-paced. After nutrition instruction, learning performances of each of the three groups were measured. Learning performances under the fast- and slow-paced conditions did not differ; learning performances under the self-paced condition was superior to the two experimenter-paced conditions. Findings of this study document that a self-paced response condition is advantageous for elderly patients.

Memory function and brain biochemistry in normal aging and in senile dementia

One might argue that the decrease in the number of brain cells as a function of age could be the source of the functional age deficits in memory performance. However, this possibility seems less likely since the actual loss of neurons up to advanced age is relatively small. There are no good estimates of the loss of synapses. Golgi staining of cortical neurons would indicate that there is a loss with higher age. So far, however, the most convincing data of marked loss with age appear at the biochemical level. Most human data fail to demonstrate a decrease in cholinergic and serotonergic activity as a function of normal aging, although there is a loss of corresponding receptors. In AD/SDAT, however, there is a marked damage to these systems. Conceivably, acetylcholine may be providing informational rather than tone setting or balancing influence on memory function. This may explain the failure of cholinomimetic drugs to improve memory in AD/SDAT due to their inability to supply the informational properties of normal neuronal transmission. The catecholamines, noradrenaline and dopamine are both lost in normal aging and to a much higher degree in AD/SDAT. Animal data show that noradrenaline deficiency results in scattered attention. Such a pattern might also exist in the intact aged and through guidance by means of instructions, contextual cues, and a richer TBR information, the elderly are being forced to attend. This may promote and supersede the normal functions of the noradrenaline system by directions from external rather than internal influences, conceivably by potentiating the remaining noradrenaline neurons. The cortical motor areas are relatively spared from neuro-degenerative changes in normal aging and in AD/SDAT and this might provide a neuroanatomical basis for the elderly's and mildly to moderately demented patients' success in memory performance when motor action is involved. The role of dopamine in motor function and its stability with age in hippocampus may also provide a neurochemical basis for the preservation of memory when the subjects are allowed to act physically during encoding.

Semantic elaboration and the method of loci: a new trip for older learners

The present study examined the effectiveness of two variations of a list learning mnemonic, the method of loci, on the recall of elderly subjects. In the Loci Only group (n = 20) subjects were instructed in the standard mnemonic and taught how to produce visual images associating each item to be remembered with one of several familiar locations. A second group, the Loci + Judgment condition (n = 17), received identical instructions except that they were taught, in addition, to make a personal judgment of the pleasantness of each visual image association. As predicted, subjects in the Loci Plus Judgment group showed greater improvement in their recall following instruction in the mnemonic. These results point to the importance of nonredundant forms of stimulus elaboration as a means of enhancing the accessibility of visual images and the effectiveness of visual mnemonic techniques.

Cognitive variants in the elderly: an integral part of medication counseling

The elderly population continues to be a major consumer of drugs. In working with this population, special consideration should be given to the specific problems that make drug use in the elderly more complex. One area that is often not considered is cognitive aspects of information receipt, storage, retrieval, and utilization. By considering these factors in working with the elderly, more appropriate and useful outcomes may be achieved.

Keeping up with 'Mrs Chase': an analysis of nursing skill-learning

Psychomotor skill-learning is a basic aspect of nursing education. Students are expected to perform skills in relation to patient care. How can nursing instructors optimize skill learning and how can they analyse where a student is going wrong? The critical components of the psychomotor-skill learning process are identified and listed under the control of the instructor or the student. A checklist provides for mutual examination of the process to see if a problem area can be isolated. The article provides a review of a process which tends to become second nature to experienced nurses, but it remains one of which nursing instructors must be conscious, in order to understand why some students do not learn nursing skills easily or safely.

Effects of word frequency on adult age differences in word memory span

The present study tested the hypothesis that the age deficits in memory span commonly found in elderly adults are attributable, at least in part, to elaborative rehearsal processes. The test required an analysis of age differences between young and elderly adult subjects in word span for list types varying in word frequency. Significant age deficits were found for all list types, with the magnitude of the deficit increasing as the frequency of intrastring items increased. The pattern of this interaction indicated the involvement of a decreased proficiency in elaborative rehearsal with increasing age as a contributor to the age deficit in word span.

From clinical and research findings on memory to intervention programs

Memory remediation for the elderly is in its infancy. This paper reviews the etiology of memory problems in the elderly and the current difficulties in evaluating memory complaints and memory functions. Recommendations for comprehensive intervention programs are included.

Age, rate and instructional conditions: empirical support against the pacing variable

The present study was an attempt to determine if the pacing effect was an artifact of the confounding of presentation rate and total learning time. Two presentation rates were factorially varied with three instructional conditions for two different age groups in a paired-associate and free-recall task. The results of the study replicated the pacing effect when learning time was deliberately confounded. When total learning time was equated for the presentation rates the pacing effect was not replicated, demonstrating that pacing is an artifact. It was suggested that the total time principle, not pacing, was the viable explanatory concept. The results of the manipulation of instructional conditions suggest that it is inappropriate to assume that a set of instructions will result in equivalent performance for both young and old samples.

The effect of age on the speed of sentence formation and incidental learning

To test the hypothesis that older persons tend not to use verbal mediators in paired-associate learning because it takes them too long to form an appropriate mediator, the time needed by young and old subjects to generate sentences incorporating given pairs of nouns was measured. Older subjects formed sentences just as rapidly as did the young. Despite their equivalent speed in creating these verbal associations when tested later for the occurrence of incidental learning of the noun pairs, the older subjects showed much poorer recall than did the younger subjects. This age difference in learning did not appear to be a function of any major dissimilarities in the generated sentences themselves, i.e., in the grammatical constructions used, or in the imageability of the relationships expressed by the sentences. The rated imagery value of the stimulus nouns was found to affect both the speed of sentence formation and the accuracy of incidental learning; in both younger and older subjects, formation time was less, and recall was better for the high imagery noun pairs.