Structural brain correlates of associative memory in older adults

Becker, Nina I.; Laukka, Erika J.; Kalpouzos, Grégoria; Naveh–Benjamin, Moshe; Bäckman, Lars; Brehmer, Yvonne

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.002

Cited by 38 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Contradictorily, some previous investigations of the brain structure correlates of episodic memory did not identify positive relationships between the hippocampal volumes and associative memory for novel associations in older adults (Rajah et al, 2010; Bauer et al, 2015; Becker et al, 2015). The inconsistent findings may be associated with methodological differences between studies, such as variations in test formats, volumetric procedures, and analytical strategies (Kaup et al, 2011; Ezzati et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Furthermore, Rajah et al (2010) and Bauer et al (2015) did not find an association between associative memory performance and hippocampal gray matter volume (GMV) in older adults. Interestingly, Becker et al (2015) found that older adults with better associative memory have larger GMV primarily in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) rather than the hippocampus. Nevertheless, some structural studies have found positive relationships between hippocampal volumes and scores on associative memory tests in older adults.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex Matters: Hippocampal Volume Predicts Individual Differences in Associative Memory in Cognitively Normal Older Women but Not Men

Zheng

Li²,

Xiao

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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The hippocampus plays a prominent role in associative memory by supporting relational binding and recollection processes. Structural atrophy in the hippocampus is likely to induce associative memory deficits in older adults. Previous studies have primarily focused on average age-related differences in hippocampal structure and memory performance. To date, however, it remains unclear whether individual differences in hippocampal morphometry underlie differential associative memory performance, and whether there are sex differences in the structural correlates of associative memory in healthy older adults. Here, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine the extent to which gray matter volume (GMV) of the hippocampus predicts associative memory performance in cognitively normal older adults. Seventy-one participants completed a cued recall paired-associative learning test (PALT), which consists of novel associations and semantically related associations, and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We observed worse associative memory performance and larger variability for novel associations than for semantically related associations. The VBM results revealed that higher scores on associative memory for novel associations were related to greater hippocampal GMV across all older adults. When considering men and women separately, the correlation between hippocampal GMV and associative memory performance for novel associations reached significance only in older women. These findings suggest that hippocampal structural volumes may predict individual differences in novel associative memory in older women but not men.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Matters: Hippocampal Volume Predicts Individual Differences in Associative Memory in Cognitively Normal Older Women but Not Men

Zheng

Li²,

Xiao

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…Associative declines have been linked to reduced dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC volume (Becker et al, 2015; see also Blumenfeld et al, 2011), ventrolateral PFC dysfunction has been associated with impaired relational encoding in older adults (Addis et al, 2014), and age-related reductions in dorsolateral PFC recruitment are observed during successful encoding of associative, but not item information (Dennis et al, 2008a). Crucially, poor binding ability is linked with an enhanced susceptibility to false memories in both younger and older adults, including conjunction errors (Fandakova et al, 2013a) and gist-based errors (Henkel et al, 1998).…”

Section: Mechanisms Of False Memory Formation With Agementioning

confidence: 99%

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings

2016

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As we age we become increasingly susceptible to memory distortions and inaccuracies. Over the past decade numerous neuroimaging studies have attempted to illuminate the neural underpinnings of aging and false memory. Here we review these studies, and link their findings with those concerning the cognitive properties of age-related changes in memory accuracy. Collectively this evidence points towards a prominent role for age-related declines in medial temporal and prefrontal brain areas, and corresponding impairments in associative binding and strategic monitoring. A resulting cascade of cognitive changes contributes to the heightened vulnerability to false memories with age, including reduced recollective ability, a reliance on gist information and familiarity-based monitoring mechanisms, as well as a reduced ability to inhibit irrelevant information and erroneous binding of features between memory traces. We consider both theoretical and applied implications of research on aging and false memories, as well as questions remaining to be addressed in future research.

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“…There is behavioral and neural evidence that associative memory functioning under intentional encoding instructions depends on strategic processes (Naveh-Benjamin et al, 2009; Becker et al, 2015) but also on associative binding mechanisms (Moscovitch, 1992; O’Reilly and Norman, 2002; Simons and Spiers, 2003). The current data suggest that these binding mechanisms are difficult to train in a bottom-up fashion in aging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Evidence for Improved Associative Memory Performance Following Process-Based Associative Memory Training in Older Adults

Bellander

Eschen

Lövdén

et al. 2017

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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Studies attempting to improve episodic memory performance with strategy instructions and training have had limited success in older adults: their training gains are limited in comparison to those of younger adults and do not generalize to untrained tasks and contexts. This limited success has been partly attributed to age-related impairments in associative binding of information into coherent episodes. We therefore investigated potential training and transfer effects of process-based associative memory training (i.e., repeated practice). Thirty-nine older adults (Mage = 68.8) underwent 6 weeks of either adaptive associative memory training or item recognition training. Both groups improved performance in item memory, spatial memory (object-context binding) and reasoning. A disproportionate effect of associative memory training was only observed for item memory, whereas no training-related performance changes were observed for associative memory. Self-reported strategies showed no signs of spontaneous development of memory-enhancing associative memory strategies. Hence, the results do not support the hypothesis that process-based associative memory training leads to higher associative memory performance in older adults.

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Structural brain correlates of associative memory in older adults

Cited by 38 publications

References 68 publications

Sex Matters: Hippocampal Volume Predicts Individual Differences in Associative Memory in Cognitively Normal Older Women but Not Men

Sex Matters: Hippocampal Volume Predicts Individual Differences in Associative Memory in Cognitively Normal Older Women but Not Men

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings

No Evidence for Improved Associative Memory Performance Following Process-Based Associative Memory Training in Older Adults

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