Face-name associative memory performance is related to amyloid burden in normal elderly

Abstract

Cerebral amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition occurs in a substantial fraction of cognitively normal (CN) older individuals. However, it has been difficult to reliably detect evidence of amyloid-related cognitive alterations in CN using standard neuropsychological measures. We sought to determine whether a highly demanding face-name associative memory exam (FNAME) could detect evidence of Aβ-related memory impairment in CN. We studied 45 CN subjects (mean age = 71.7 ± 8.8) with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores = 0 and MMSE ≥ 28, using Positron Emission Tomography with Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB PET). Memory factor scores were derived from a principal components analysis for FNAME name retrieval (FN-N), FNAME occupation retrieval (FN-O) and the 6-Trial Selective Reminding Test (SRT). Using multiple linear and logistic regression analyses, we related the memory factor scores to PiB distribution volume ratios (DVR, cerebellar reference) as either a continuous or a dichotomous variable in frontal cortex and a posterior cortical region representing the precuneus, posterior cingulate and lateral parietal cortices (PPCLP), co-varying for age and AMNART IQ (a proxy of cognitive reserve (CR)). A significant inverse relationship for FN-N was found with Aβ deposition in frontal (R2 = .29, β = −2.2, p = 0.02) and PPCLP cortices (R2 = .26, β = −2.4, p = 0.05). In contrast, neither FN-O nor the SRT were significantly related to Aβ deposition. Performance on a demanding test of face-name associative memory was related to Aβ burden in brain regions associated with memory systems. Associative memory for faces and names, a common complaint among older adults, may be a sensitive marker of early Aβ-related impairment.

Trying to trust: Brain activity during interpersonal social attitude change

“…The face name memory task was used to quantify each participant's ability to remember semantic information paired with images of faces. This task is in accordance with several other studies designed to measure how people remember the names of faces (Chua, Schacter, Rand-Giovannetti, & Sperling, 2007;Miller et al, 2008;Rentz et al, 2011). Given that there was a 1/3 chance of correctly guessing the name, it would be advantageous to quantify memory using other procedures, such as with implicit subconscious methods or with free recall in future studies.…”

Impact of Sex and Menopausal Status on Episodic Memory Circuitry in Early Midlife

“…Participants completed a basic mood and neuropsychological battery that included the following: a digit span (Wechsler, 1997), a Controlled Oral Word Association Test for verbal fluency to the letters F, A, and S (FAS) and categories (Benton, 1968), the American National Adult Reading Test (Nelson, 1982), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Profile of Moods Questionnaire (POMS). In addition, two measures of episodic memory, the 12-item Face Name Associative Memory Exam (Sperling et al, 2003;Rentz et al, 2011) and the 6-trial Selective Reminding Test (SRT; Grober et al, 2000;Lemos et al, 2014), were administered based on previous evidence of their increased sensitivity to detecting early cognitive decline (Hedden et al, 2012). Findings from these behavioral memory tasks were described in detail previously (Rentz et al, 2016).…”

“…In addition, two measures of episodic memory, the 12-item Face Name Associative Memory Exam (Sperling et al, 2003;Rentz et al, 2011) and the 6-trial Selective Reminding Test (SRT; Grober et al, 2000;Lemos et al, 2014), were administered based on previous evidence of their increased sensitivity to detecting early cognitive decline (Hedden et al, 2012). Findings from these behavioral memory tasks were described in detail previously (Rentz et al, 2016).…”

“…Performance on two episodic memory tests, the Face Name Associative Memory Exam (Rentz et al, 2011;Papp et al, 2014; Face-Name) and six-trial SRT (Masur et al, 1989), differed by sex and reproductive stage. These findings were reported in detail previously (Rentz et al, 2016).…”

“…Performance on two episodic memory tests, the Face Name Associative Memory Exam (Rentz et al, 2011;Papp et al, 2014; Face-Name) and six-trial SRT (Masur et al, 1989), differed by sex and reproductive stage. These findings were reported in detail previously (Rentz et al, 2016). To summarize, in aggregate, women outperformed men on both the Face Name test (free recall, t (184) ϭ Ϫ3.26, p Ͻ 0.001, two-tailed, r ϭ 0.23) and SRT (delayed recall, t (183) ϭ Ϫ4.15, p Ͻ 0.0001, two-tailed, r ϭ 0.28).…”