Serial position effects on list learning tasks in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Weitzner, Daniel S.; Calamia, Matthew

doi:10.1037/neu0000620

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…A recent route-learning study showed the serial position effect for landmarks encountered during navigation with strong primacy and recency benefits in CN older adults [ 41 ]. In patients with MCI and AD dementia, list-learning tasks that are used to investigate serial position effects usually show a diminished primacy effect (for review see [ 57 ]), which was not observed in our navigational study. These discordant findings could be caused by different experimental protocols used in the current study and previous studies, which require one to recall directions at each intersection in the same order as during encoding in the route-learning task and allow one to recall words in any order in the list-learning tasks, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Spatial Navigation and Visuospatial Strategies in Typical and Atypical Aging

et al. 2021

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Age-related spatial navigation decline is more pronounced in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia. We used a realistic-looking virtual navigation test suite to analyze different aspects of visuospatial processing in typical and atypical aging. A total of 219 older adults were recruited from the Czech Brain Aging Study cohort. Cognitively normal older adults (CN; n = 78), patients with amnestic MCI (n = 75), and those with mild AD dementia (n = 66) underwent three navigational tasks, cognitive assessment, and brain MRI. Route learning and wayfinding/perspective-taking tasks distinguished the groups as performance and learning declined and specific visuospatial strategies were less utilized with increasing cognitive impairment. Increased perspective shift and utilization of non-specific strategies were associated with worse task performance across the groups. Primacy and recency effects were observed across the groups in the route learning and the wayfinding/perspective-taking task, respectively. In addition, a primacy effect was present in the wayfinding/perspective-taking task in the CN older adults. More effective spatial navigation was associated with better memory and executive functions. The results demonstrate that a realistic and ecologically valid spatial navigation test suite can reveal different aspects of visuospatial processing in typical and atypical aging.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Spatial Navigation and Visuospatial Strategies in Typical and Atypical Aging

et al. 2021

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“…A notable difference amongst these measures is that the HVLT has semantic categories, while the RAVLT does not. Given evidence that using a semantic strategy is likely to affect primacy and recency (Weitzner & Calamia, 2020), this is an important consideration for future research in this area. An additional difference between the RAVLT and HVLT is the difference in list length, with the RAVLT including 15 words read to an examinee five times, where the HVLT has 12 words read to an examinee three times.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The incremental validity of primacy as a predictor of everyday functioning.

Weitzner¹,

Divers²,

Calamia³

2022

Neuropsychology

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Objective: Verbal memory is a predictor of later functional deficits. However, it is unclear if a specific aspect of immediate free-recall is driving this relationship. Serial position effects (i.e., relationship between a word’s placement on a word-list and its likelihood of being recalled) have been shown to predict conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The goal of this study was to determine if serial position effects predict functioning 10-year postbaseline when controlling for demographic variables and total cognitive scores. Method: Data from 2,802 participants in the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly trial were examined to predict subjective (i.e., Minimum Data Set Home Care questionnaire subscales) and performance-based (i.e., Observed Tasks of Daily Living and Everyday Problems Test) functioning 10-year postbaseline. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the association between functioning 10-year postbaseline and scores at baseline. Results: Primacy performance demonstrated the most consistent associations with overall subjective and performance-based functioning measures 10-year postbaseline. Specifically, higher primacy performance was associated with less decline in subjective and performance-based functioning over time, particularly when primacy was analyzed from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Fewer associations were found between middle and recency scores with subjective and performance-based functioning measures. Conclusion: The present study suggests that serial position effects predict future subjective and performance-based functional changes, beyond demographic information and global cognition. The study adds to a growing literature about the relative importance of primacy, especially in the prediction of functional changes.

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“…In fact, in a series of studies Morris 36–38 documented normal phonological similarity and word length in AD patients on verbal span tasks as well as normal short‐term forgetting of phonological sequences. Moreover, the recency effect in the free recall of supraspan word lists (known to mainly reflect the operations of the phonological buffer component of the PL) is typically unaffected in both MCI and early AD 18,39–41 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verbal and spatial memory spans in mild cognitive impairment

et al. 2021

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Objectives Working memory (WM) for verbal and visual material may be affected early in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Verbal and visuospatial span tasks, that is neuropsychological procedures commonly used for the clinical assessment of WM, have been scarcely investigated in these patients. Therefore, this study was aimed at evaluating whether performance on tests of verbal and visual‐spatial span (which rely to different extents on distinct components of the WM system) is differently sensitive to the presence of MCI and, in particular, of a preclinical AD condition in patients with MCI. Materials & Methods 99 patients with amnesic MCI were given the Digit Span Forward (DSF) and Digit Span Backward (DSB) tests and the Corsi span task (CS) at baseline and were followed up for two years. 32 MCI patients converted to Alzheimer's disease (MCIc), but 67 patients did not deteriorate to meet the criteria for AD (MCIs). Results Results showed that although performance on DSF did not differ between groups, performance on DSB and CS and ratio indexes indicative of a performance decline passing from DSF to DSB and from DSF to CS significantly discriminated between a group of matched healthy controls and the overall group of MCI patients. Moreover, the ratio indexes significantly discriminated between MCIc and MCIs individuals. Conclusions These data are consistent with the hypothesis that individuals with MCI, particularly those destined to convert to AD, are affected by reduced central executive resources even though the phonological loop is still functioning normally.

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Serial position effects on list learning tasks in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Cited by 20 publications

References 84 publications

Spatial Navigation and Visuospatial Strategies in Typical and Atypical Aging

Spatial Navigation and Visuospatial Strategies in Typical and Atypical Aging

The incremental validity of primacy as a predictor of everyday functioning.

Verbal and spatial memory spans in mild cognitive impairment

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