Submitted by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2016-01-26T13:19:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2866873 bytes, checksum: d719d963c473f40750c279e2b5305270 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-26T13:19:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2866873 bytes, checksum: d719d963c473f40750c279e2b5305270 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-24 / Episodic-like memory is a subtype of declarative memory that refers recall an integration of where and when a certain event (what) happened. The hippocampus –subregions function in pattern separation process are key to mediating of episodic memory recall. Glutamatergic neurotransmission, particularly AMPA and NMDA receptors, have been characterized as essential in neuroplastic processes. Ketamine is a non-competitive NMDA antagonist available at clinical practice with effect on cognitive performance and plasticity. This study’s goal was to evaluate the acute action of ketamine on behavioral and neurochemical aspects of episodic-like memory through immediate-early gene expression (IEG), c-Fos. The experimental procedure was done at a circular arena, and consists of two training sessions and a test of five minutes each. In the first training, the animal was placed in a circular open field to explore four similar objects (A), after a 1 hour, the rats start a second sample with four other objects (B), two of those appear in different spatial locations relative for the first sample. In the test, four objects are shown, two recent-familiar (B) and two old-familiar (A), two displaced (A2, B2) and two stationary (A1 and B1). Forty-six 3-month-old male Wistar rats were separated in five groups. The home cage group (n=6; without apparatus exposure) was used to measure IEG basal expression. The other four groups, with 10 rats each, went through the behavioral test. One of them received saline 0.9% and the other two received 8 mg/kg or 15 mg/kg ketamine ip immediately after the second sample, while the control group received no treatment. All objects and spatial location in this protocol were randomized among groups. The analyses were blinded for groups and the behavioral measures were distance, speed and time of exploration in all sessions. The exploration ratio and discrimination ratio of the four objects in the test session were calculated. Wilcoxon test showed statistically significant differences between these pairs of objects in the control group: A1> A2, B2> B1 and A1> B1. The data indicate that these rats could integrate the three elements of episodic-like memory. The saline group demonstrated the same exploration pattern of control group for comparisons between A1>A2 and B2>B1, but statistical differences were not found between A1and B1. The Welch’s analysis showed a difference of c-Fos expression in all hippocampal sub-regions. The control group had the highest c-Fos expression in the dentate gyrus when compared to the other groups, suggesting the role of this sub-region for integration of episodic-like memory. The two sub-anesthetic doses of ketamine induced a deficit for this type of memory. The highest dose demonstrated a possible hypolocomotion effect, characterized by decreasing of total distance traveled and speed, compared to the other groups at the test session. In short, the deficit of episodic-like memory was characterized both as amnesic effect of ketamine and as decrease of c-Fos in the dentate gyrus of those groups, suggesting a possible role of this field in episodic-like memory formation. / A memória similar à episódica é um subtipo de memória declarativa que se refere à recordação, de forma integrada, de onde e quando um determinado evento (o quê) aconteceu. A funcionalidade das sub-regiões do hipocampo dorsal no processo de separação de padrões apresenta-se como mediadora chave da recordação episódica. A neurotransmissão glutamatérgica, em especial dos receptores AMPA e NMDA, caracteriza-se como essencial em processos neuroplásticos. A Cetamina é um dos poucos antagonistas não competitivos NMDA disponíveis na prática clínica com efeitos no desempenho cognitivo e na plasticidade. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a ação aguda da Cetamina no comportamento da memória do tipo episódica e a funcionalidade das sub-regiões hipocampais (CA1, CA3 (ab e c) e GD), através da expressão do gene imediato (IEG), c-Fos. O procedimento experimental, realizado em uma arena circular, consistiu em duas sessões de treino e uma de teste com duração de cinco minutos cada. No primeiro treino, o animal é colocado em um campo aberto circular para explorar quatro objetos iguais (A), após o intervalo de 1 hora, o rato inicia o segundo treino com outros quatro objetos (B), destes dois aparecem em disposições espaciais não alocadas na primeira sessão. Na etapa do teste são apresentados quatro objetos, sendo dois recentes (B) e dois antigos (A), dois deslocados (A2 e B2) e dois estacionários (A1 e B1). Neste estudo, 46 ratos Wistar machos adultos foram divididos em cinco grupos. O grupo home cage foi escolhido como controle para a avaliação basal dos IEGs nas sub-regiões do hipocampo dorsal. Quatro grupos, contendo 10 animais cada, realizaram o procedimento comportamental, sendo um grupo controle e três grupos que passaram por intervenção farmacológica: um grupo que recebeu Salina 0.9% (i.p.) e os outros dois receberam a Cetamina (i.p.), nas doses de 8mg/kg e 15 mg/kg, imediatamente após o segundo treino. As análises do estudo foram duplo-cego e os objetos e suas localizações espaciais foram randomizadas entre os grupos. As medidas comportamentais utilizadas foram a “distância total percorrida”, a “velocidade” e o “tempo de exploração” para todas as sessões. Na sessão de teste também foram calculadas a “taxa de exploração” e a “taxa de discriminação” dos objetos. No teste de Wilcoxon o grupo controle apresentou o desempenho padrão estatisticamente significativo: A1>A2, B2>B1 e A1>B1. Integrando os três elementos da memória episódica, seguido pelo grupo salina que apresentou o mesmo perfil de exploração entre os objetos antigos e recentes, A1>A2, B2>B1. A análise do Welch mostrou diferenças neuroquímicas em todas as sub-regiões do hipocampo, destacando um aumento de c-Fos no giro denteado (GD) dos animais controles quando comparado aos outros grupos, sugerindo o papel desta sub-região para a integração da memória tipo episódica. As duas doses sub-anestésicas da Cetamina induziram um déficit para este tipo de memória. A dose mais elevada demonstrou um possível efeito hipolocomotor, caracterizado pela redução na distância total percorrida e na velocidade, em comparação com os outros grupos, na sessão de teste. Em suma, o déficit de memória tipo episódica foi caracterizado tanto pelo efeito amnésico de Cetamina quanto pela redução de c-Fos no GD desses grupos, sugerindo um possível papel deste campo na formação desse tipo de memória.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:36:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FlavioFB_TESE_partes_autorizadas.pdf: 1203438 bytes, checksum: 7fffdef6a1497cb97b87a0103365db00 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-01-20 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / Episodic memory refers to the recollection of what, where and when a specific event occurred. Hippocampus is a key structure in this type of memory. Computational models suggest that the dentate gyrus (DG) and the CA3 hippocampal subregions are involved in pattern separation and the rapid acquisition of episodic memories, while CA1 is involved in memory consolidation. However there are few studies with animal models that access simultaneously the aspects ‗what-where-when . Recently, an object recognition episodic-like memory task in rodents was proposed. This task consists of two sample trials and a test phase. In sample trial one, the rat is exposed to four copies of an object. In sample trial two, one hour later, the rat is exposed to four copies of a different object. In the test phase, 1 h later, two copies of each of the objects previously used are presented. One copy of the object used in sample trial one is located in a different place, and therefore it is expected to be the most explored object.However, the short retention delay of the task narrows its applications. This study verifies if this task can be evoked after 24h and whether the pharmacological inactivation of the DG/CA3 and CA1 subregions could differentially impair the acquisition of the task described. Validation of the task with a longer interval (24h) was accomplished (animals showed spatiotemporal object discrimination and scopolamine (1 mg/kg, ip) injected pos-training impaired performance). Afterwards, the GABA agonist muscimol, (0,250 μg/μl; volume = 0,5 μl) or saline were injected in the hippocampal subregions fifteen minutes before training. Pre-training inactivation of the DG/CA3 subregions impaired the spatial discrimination of the objects (‗where ), while the temporal discrimination (‗when ) was preserved. Rats treated with muscimol in the CA1 subregion explored all the objects equally well, irrespective of place or presentation time. Our results corroborate the computational models that postulate a role for DG/CA3 in spatial pattern separation, and a role for CA1 in the consolidation process of different mnemonic episodes / A mem?ria epis?dica refere-se ? capacidade de recordar quando e onde um determinado evento ocorreu. O hipocampo ? uma estrutura chave para esse sistema de mem?ria e diversos estudos te?ricos t?m sugerido que o giro denteado (GD) e CA3 est?o envolvidos na aquisi??o r?pida da mem?ria epis?dica, enquanto a sub-regi?o CA1 estaria envolvida na separa??o temporal de diferentes epis?dios. Contudo, h? poucos estudos em modelos animais com tarefas que acessem os aspectos ―o que‖, ―quando‖ e ―onde‖ simultaneamente. Recentemente, uma tarefa de reconhecimento de objetos em roedores que avalia a mem?ria similar a epis?dica foi desenvolvida. A tarefa consiste em duas sess?es de treino e uma de teste, cada uma com 5 minutos de dura??o. Na primeira sess?o de treino o rato ? colocado em uma arena familiar com quatro objetos id?nticos (A), ap?s uma hora o rato ? reexposto ao campo com outras c?pias (B). O teste ? realizado 1 h depois, e o animal ? apresentado a dois objetos da segunda e dois objetos da primeira exposi??o, sendo que um dos objetos A est? uma nova localiza??o no campo aberto. Espera-se que o objeto mais antigo e deslocado seja o mais explorado. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o papel das sub-regi?es hipocampais na aquisi??o da mem?ria similar a epis?dica em ratos. Inicialmente, avaliamos a capacidade de ratos Wistar evocarem essa tarefa ap?s 24 h de reten??o, uma vez que a tarefa foi desenvolvida inicialmente com um intervalo de 1h. De fato, os animais conseguiram discriminar a localiza??o e a ordem de apresenta??o dos objetos ap?s um intervalo de 24h. Al?m disso, a administra??o de escopolamina (1 mg/kg, ip) imediatamente ap?s o treino prejudicou o desempenho dos animais, o que favoreceu a valida??o desse protocolo com esse intervalo de reten??o. Esse novo intervalo permitiu avaliar o efeito da inativa??o tempor?ria do giro denteado/CA3 e de CA1 na aquisi??o desta tarefa. Muscimol, um agonista gaba?rgico (0,250 μg/μl; volume = 0,5 μl), ou solu??o salina no mesmo volume foram injetados nessas sub-regi?es quinze minutos antes da primeira sess?o de treino. A inativa??o pr?-treino do GD/CA3 prejudicou a discrimina??o espacial dos objetos, enquanto que a inativa??o de CA1 levou a explora??o igual dos objetos, independentemente da localiza??o ou ordem de apresenta??o. Estes resultados corroboram os modelos te?ricos, indicando um papel importante de GD/CA3 na aquisi??o r?pida de mem?rias epis?dicas, assim como na separa??o de padr?es espaciais, enquanto a sub-regi?oCA1 estaria relacionada com a consolida??o dos diferentes epis?dios

Introdução: independentemente do grau de incapacidade física, o declínio cognitivo tem sido considerado motivo de maior impacto em importantes aspectos da vida diária dos pacientes com Esclerose Múltipla (EM) como o gerenciamento de tarefas domésticas, participação na sociedade e manutenção do emprego. Alterações de Memória Episódica (ME) em pacientes com EM são comumente descritas na literatura, sendo observadas em 40% a 65% dos casos. Seu impacto já é observado em pacientes com Esclerose Múltipla Remitente-Recorrente (EMRR) incipiente e pode ser um indicador de pior prognóstico para evolução da doença. Adicionalmente, déficits na memória verbal bem como na velocidade de processamento de informação e função executiva predizem condição ocupacional dos portadores da doença. Há vários trabalhos transversais na literatura científica que visam investigar sobre alterações cognitivas encontradas nestes pacientes. Entretanto, os estudos longitudinais são escassos e estes têm revelado resultados inconclusivos e divergentes. Além disso, tanto nos estudos transversais quanto nos estudos longitudinais, não há preocupação em caracterizar de forma aprofundada o declínio da Memória Episódica Verbal (MEV) especificamente. Objetivo: neste estudo, investigamos a MEV de pacientes com EMRR e sua evolução através de avaliação longitudinal. Métodos: vinte e nove pacientes com EMRR foram submetidos a duas avaliações neuropsicológicas realizadas entre um intervalo de tempo médio de 4,5 anos. Vinte e seis controles saudáveis foram submetidos à uma única e idêntica avaliação neuropsicológica. Considerou-se nível de significância p < 0,05 para delinear diferenças estatísticas entre os grupos nas análises Mann Withney e Wilcoxon pareado. Resultados: não houve diferença estatística nos resultados dos testes de MEV entre a primeira e a segunda avaliação neuropsicológica realizada pelos pacientes. Houve discrepância estatística nos resultados dos testes de MEV entre o grupo de controles e grupo de pacientes no momento da avaliação inicial. Em contrapartida, no momento da segunda avaliação o grupo de pacientes não se diferenciou estatisticamente do grupo dos controles. Conclusões: a estabilização ou discreta melhora do desempenho dos pacientes com EMRR entre a avaliação inicial e o follow-up em testes de MEV, pode estar relacionada ao fato de que neste estudo foram incluídos predominantemente jovens adultos na amostra, com a forma clínica mais branda da doença. Possível processo de neuroplasticidade cerebral, ou mesmo inclusão de casos benignos da EM precisam ser considerados. Atrelado a isso, deve-se considerar que o breve período de follow-up pode não ter sido o suficiente para detectar possíveis déficits a longo prazo / Introduction: Regardless of the degree of physical disability, cognitive decline has been considered as having the greatest impact on important aspects of the daily life of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, such as managing household tasks, participation in society and maintaining employment. Changes in Episodic Memory (EM) in MS patients are commonly described in the literature and are observed in 40% to 65% of cases. Its impact is already observed in patients with incipient Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) and may be an indicator of a worse prognosis for disease progression. In addition, deficits in verbal memory as well as in the speed of information processing and executive function predict the occupational condition of the patients with the disease. There are several transversal works in the scientific literature that aim to investigate cognitive alterations found in these patients. However, longitudinal studies are scarce and these have revealed inconclusive and divergent results. Moreover, in both crosssectional studies and longitudinal studies, there is no concern to characterize in depth the decline of Verbal Episodic Memory (VEM) specifically. Objective: In this study, we investigated the VEM of patients with RRMS and its evolution through longitudinal evaluation. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with RRMS were submitted to two neuropsychological evaluations performed between a mean time interval of 4.5 years. Twenty-six healthy controls were submitted to a single and identical neuropsychological evaluation. A significance level of p < 0.05 was used to delineate statistical differences between the groups in the Mann Withney and Wilcoxon paired analyzes. Results: There was no statistical difference in the VEM results between the first and second neuropsychological evaluation performed by the patients. There was a statistical discrepancy in the VEM results between the control group and the patient group at the time of the initial evaluation. In contrast, at the time of the second evaluation, the group of patients did not differ statistically from the control group. Conclusions: The stabilization or discrete improvement in the performance of RRMS patients between the initial evaluation and the follow-up in the VEM trials may be related to the fact that in this study, predominantly young adults were included in the sample, with the mildest clinical form of the disease. Possible process of cerebral neuroplasticity, or even inclusion of benign cases of MS need to be considered. Coupled with this, one should consider that the brief follow-up period may not have been enough to detect possible long-term deficits

This report aims to explore if pattern recognition and pattern separation tasks performance degenerate with age. This as there are studies by Brickman et al. (2014) that suggest that these tasks are being performed by the hippocampus in particular, the dentate gyrus part. The tasks used in this report were replicated from a study in which it was assumed that they tested this parts. As both the hippocampus and the dentate gyrus supposedly degenerate with age, the tasks tested this degeneration by looking if the participant’s performance on the tasks changed with age. The performance on the pattern separation task did not change with age while the pattern recognition task did. This preservation of pattern separation might mean that the pattern separation tasks does not measure the dentate gyrus. It might also mean that the hippocampus might not degenerate as previously assumed or that the pattern separation task really test the hippocampus.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, characterised by severe memory loss and the accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau pathology within neocortex and medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures. Episodic memory impairment is a defining feature of early AD. The hippocampal formation (HF), a major network involved in both memory formation and retrieval is one of the first areas affected by AD pathology. However, the aetiology of AD is unknown; specifically how Aβ and tau pathologies cause memory impairment and how the physiological function of HF is affected. In this thesis, the 3xTgAD mouse was used as a high fidelity model of human AD pathological progression to study the function of HF during early (intracellular Aβ) and more progressive (extracellular plaque and hyperphosphorylated tau pathology) AD stages, referred to as ‘young’ and ‘old’ respectively. Specifically we: i) applied the hippocampal-dependent What-Where-Which (WWWhich) task to study the onset and progression of episodic-like memory decline (previously uncharacterised in the 3xTgAD mouse); ii) examined allocentric spatial memory in radial arm water maze (RAWM) and spontaneous alternation (SA) behaviour in T-Maze to discern whether cognitive differences exist between spontaneous and negatively reinforced tasks (the latter could be influenced by an exaggerated stress response); and iii) performed electrophysiological recordings in vivo from the HF of urethane-anaesthetised 3xTgAD and control mice to study basic synaptic connectivity, short-term synaptic plasticity and neuronal reverberation across the CA1-DG axis using a multi-site electrode. Our results showed an early and specific deficit for WWWhich episodic-like memory in the 3xTgAD model, with a decline in performance witnessed in mice as young as 3 months. In contrast, 3xTgAD component memory comprising single or dual associations of ‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘Which’ and ‘When’ remained intact suggesting the episodic impairment was due to dysfunction during the association of three component information streams within hippocampus (Chapters 3 and 4). 3xTgAD mice were equally impaired for allocentric spatial memory in RAWM and in their SA behaviour, suggesting no inherent advantage of examining cognition in paradigms which elicit behavioural distress (Chapter 5). We witnessed the development of subtle synaptic abnormalities in young 3xTgAD mice in the form of enhanced short-term paired pulse facilitation in CA1 and DG, however, a paucity of response facilitation in CA1 in response to train stimulation. In contrast, we saw intact basic synaptic function (fibre integrity and synaptic connectivity) in 3xTgAD mice of both young and old ages, suggesting gross hippocampal circuitry remained in place (Chapter 6). Finally, we saw an effect of normal ageing on cognition in the WWWhich and spatial tasks (Chapters 4 and 5), and a decline in neuronal reverberation with age in control and 3xTgAD mice. Dysfunction in these two parameters (behavioural and electrophysiological) coincided with the onset of intracellular Aβ accumulation within HF in 3xTgAD mice. This suggests a role of intracellular Aβ in impairing the physiological function of HF in AD which translates as cognitive decline in hippocampal-dependent forms of memory. Episodic memory was found to be especially sensitive to AD-related pathology and impairment, thus the WWWhich task may be applied to faithfully study the onset of cognitive decline in other AD mouse models. Further examination of the relative contribution of Aβ to hippocampal dysfunction in the 3xTgAD model is required.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study addressed the groundwater assessment and sustainable management of the coastal alluvial aquifers in Namib Desert, the Omaruru River Delta Aquifer (Omdel Aquifer) was used as a case study. Sustainable utilization of groundwater in parts of hyper-arid Sub-Saharan Africa, like the Namib Desert, is always a challenge due to lack of resources and data. Understanding of hydrogeological characteristics of the Omaruru Delta Aquifer System is a pre-requisite for the management of groundwater supply in the Central Namib area (Namib Desert). For the Omdel Aquifer in the Omaruru catchment, Namibia, issues to investigate include the lack of information on the geology and hydrogeological setting, the hydraulic properties and geometry of the aquifer at the inflow and outflow sections, groundwater recharge conditions upstream of the aquifer, and the impact of artificial recharge.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are a problem among young adults. Problem solving deficits have been implicated in suicide outcomes and may be especially relevant to young adults given the developmental demands and increased risk for STBs during this life stage. Emerging research suggests that problem solving and related cognitive processes (e.g., episodic memory) can be modified through a brief cognitive training session, hereafter referred to as the specificity induction. However, it is unknown whether benefits of this specificity induction extend to suicidal populations. The present study tested a web-based version of the specificity induction intended to improve problem solving skills, episodic memory and divergent thinking among suicidal young adults. We recruited and consented a sample of 105 young adults with past year STBs and randomly assigned them to receive either the specificity induction or a control condition (i.e., general impressions induction). Regarding feasibility of conducting an online study with this population 81.90% (n=86) of those who provided informed consent completed the study protocol. Regarding clinical acceptability of the web-based specificity induction, the majority of participants which received this cognitive training rated that they would be unlikely to “use again”, while endorsing that it was “easy to use” across several items of a user experience self-report questionnaire. Contrary to hypotheses,young adults assigned to complete the specificity induction did not show improvement in their performance on measures of problem solving and related cognitive processes compared to those assigned to the control condition. Through post-hoc analyses we investigated candidate sources of systematic variability in task performance (e.g., attention, mood, task order effects), but none were found to account for participants’ demonstrated problem solving performance. In sum, we conclude that testing this brief cognitive training through an online experimental study was feasible, the cognitive training was modestly acceptable in its online format, and it does not immediately improve suicidal young adults’ problem solving or related cognitive processes. By demonstrating what does not necessarily work with suicidal young adults, there remains room for future research to pursue alternative design or modes of single session interventions.

No description available.

La perception pour un individu que son fonctionnement est déterminé par ses propres actions et comportements serait l’un des facteurs clés d’un vieillissement cognitif réussi. Cette perception de contrôle conduirait à fournir des efforts soutenus pour rester performant sur le plan cognitif en dépit de l'avancée en âge, ce qui contribuerait au maintien de bonnes habiletés cognitives au fil du temps. Aujourd’hui, de nombreux travaux mettent en évidence que les personnes avec un fort sentiment de contrôle obtiennent de meilleures performances dans les tâches de mémoire épisodique que les autres. Néanmoins, l’hypothèse d’une préservation différentielle des capacités de mémoire épisodique en fonction du niveau de contrôle perçu manque encore de soutien empirique. A travers trois études expérimentales et la validation d’une nouvelle échelle de contrôle perçu spécifique à la mémoire, la présente thèse visait à déterminer si le contrôle perçu pouvait jouer un rôle positif dans l’évolution de la mémoire épisodique au fil de l’âge adulte puis à identifier les mécanismes explicatifs de la relation entre le contrôle perçu et la mémoire épisodique à différents âges de la vie adulte. Dans l’ensemble, nos études ne permettent pas de valider l’hypothèse selon laquelle un contrôle perçu plus élevé atténuerait les différences liées à l’âge en mémoire épisodique. En revanche, nos résultats suggèrent que les personnes, et en particulier les plus âgées, qui perçoivent leur mémoire comme contrôlable obtiennent de meilleures performances de mémoire épisodique que les autres grâce à une plus grande utilisation et à une exécution plus efficace de stratégies cognitives coûteuses en termes de ressources au cours de la tâche. / Perceiving one’s own functioning as determined by one’s own actions and behaviors would be one of the key factors of successful cognitive aging. Perceived control would lead to sustained efforts to maintain a high level of cognitive performance despite advancing age, which would predict a positive evolution of cognitive abilities over time. Currently, many studies show that people with higher levels of sense of control have better memory performance than people who believe that events are beyond their control. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of empirical support concerning the hypothesis of a differential preservation of memory abilities as a function of levels of perceived control. Through three experimental studies and the validation of a new scale evaluating memory control beliefs, this thesis aimed to determine whether perceived control could make a positive contribution to memory aging and to identify the mechanisms that may explain the relationship between perceived control and episodic memory at different ages. Overall, our studies do not support the hypothesis that higher perceived control would moderate age-related differences in episodic memory. However, our work suggests that individuals, especially the older ones, who perceive their memory as controllable obtain better performance during memory tasks than those who perceive their memory as uncontrollable through greater and more efficient use of resource-demanding cognitive strategies.

The diploma thesis is focused on standardization of the neuropsychological test The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test with Immediate Recall (FCSRT-IR), this test is a one of memory tests which contains phase with controlled learning. In the theoretical part it deals with aging and cognitive functions especially memory, further episodic memory test especially FCSRT-IR and its administration and benefits of this test against other episodic memory tests. In the practical part of this diploma thesis we report norms based on population in age 60 years and older (N= 362; range of age from 61 to 97), the norms are based on National Normative Study of Cognitive Determinants of Healthy Ageing which took place from 2012 to 2015 (IGA NT13145) and the author of this diploma thesis was a member of its team. In the second part of this thesis we deal with validation study which was conducted on population of people with dementia in Alzheimer's disease (N= 37; range of age from 61 to 88) comparing with healthy control group. In this validation study we confirmed that FCSRT-IR is a sensitive method for detection dementia in Alzheimer's disease. Keywords: Episodic memory, FCSRT-IR, controlled learning, norms, validation