The present study examined the concurrent validity of several proposed measures of premorbid IQ, present ability measures, and demographic variables at predicting intellectual, verbal memory, and language performance in a sample of 98 normal elderly Canadians (mean age = 71.9 years). Predictive regression equations were developed to estimate performance on criterion measures in each cognitive domain including general intellectual ability (i.e. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Verbal IQ: WAIS-R VIQ), verbal memory (i.e. California Verbal Learning Test long delayed free recall: CVLTLDFR), and language domains (i.e. Boston Naming Test: BNT). These new regression equations utilized a combination of measures of premorbid VIQ and present ability measures to account for 63%, 32% and 54% of the variance in WAIS-R VIQ, CVLTLDFR, and BNT performance, respectively. The utility of these new equations for detecting impaired performance and cognitive decline in clinical samples was evaluated by calculation of sensitivity scores for each equation based on the method proposed by Graves, Carswell & Snow (in press). The results indicated that performance would have to decline by approximately 15 points for WAIS-R VIQ, 6 points for CVLTLDFR, and 6 points for BNT scores, to be reliably detected 80% of the time. The implications of the sensitivity of each of these equations was discussed with regard to the clinical application of these equations for predicting premorbid cognition in early Alzheimer's disease. The current study was also the first study to develop predictive regression equations utilizing measures of premorbid VIQ and present ability measures to estimate verbal memory and language performance in a healthy elderly sample. / Graduate

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to test one theoretical explanation for elders' perceived current adequacy of everyday remembering, and the antecedent perceptions, values and beliefs, and consequent feelings related to this perception. Fourteen hypotheses, deduced from the theory of subjective forgetfulness in elders (Cromwell, 1991), tested one theoretical explanation for the relationships among: Personal Importance of Remembering, Perceived Seriousness of Forgetting, Perceived Frequency of Forgetting, Belief in a Relationship between Aging and Memory Decline, Belief in a Personal Health Risk for Memory Decline, Perceived Current Adequacy of Everyday Remembering, Distress about Current Forgetting, Concern about Future Forgetting and Self Esteem in elders. Multiple regression analysis of the data obtained from 202 community based elders, age 65 to 97, supported the assertions that perceiving self to forget frequently negatively influenced elders' judgments of their current memory adequacy and increased their distress about current forgetting. Believing that one had risk factors for memory decline influenced the current distress experienced about forgetting, and the level of concern about future memory. Present concerns about forgetting, in response to perceived frequency of forgetting and perceived risks, influenced in part the degree to which the present situation was viewed as a warning sign of potential progressive future decline. Concerns about memory and forgetting influenced elders' level of self esteem. Intriguing differences in the relationships among antecedent perceptions, values and beliefs, and consequent feelings about self were discovered between older and younger elders, and between elders who highly valued remembering and those for whom remembering was of lesser importance. Future research to expand our understanding of the subjective experience of forgetfulness in elders and potential future intervention research to increase perceived memory adequacy and decrease present and future concerns were proposed.

This study investigated quantitative and qualitative aspects of memory in three age-and-education-matched groups (1) 38 normal elderly, (2) 15 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), and (3) 26 depressed elderly. Three clusters of dependent variables were used to examine group differences: (1) standard psychometric (Wechsler Memory Scale logical memory and visual reproduction subtests), (2) verbal recall measures (free recall measures of primary memory, secondary memory, prior item intrusions and extra list intrusions), and (3) verbal recognition memory measures (true positive, false positive, true negative, and false negative responses). Analyses of variance, with specified contrasts, found the DAT patients to demonstrate a pervasive memory impairment affecting both the qualitative and quantitative memory indices compared to depressed and normal elderly. The depressed elderly demonstrated impairment, compared to normal elderly, on tasks requiring effortful processing. Findings support pervasive memory loss in DAT patients and do not support clear memory impairment in the present depressed sample.

The graying of America as a sociological and health care phenomenon continues to dictate the demand for creative and innovative interventions that can directly influence the quality of life of nursing home residents. Creative Reminiscence is a program that fosters the active reliving of the past through narration, such as in story-telling, and the use of creative art expression to uncover meaningful life events or valuable life experiences. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the meaningful life events elicited by the experience of Creative Reminiscence using a phenomenographic approach. Existing (archived) data-transcribed interviews, poetry and painting on planters that were obtained from 20 participants of the Creative Reminiscence program entitled Le Jardin de Sante were analyzed. Five variations of meaningful memories evoked by Creative Reminiscence were identified. These are described as follows: (a) memories that rejuvenate the elder's sense of connectio n; (b) memories that revive the elder's sense of love and intimacy; (c) memories that restore the elder's sense of being; (d) memories that reassert the elder's sense of control; and (e) memories that reinstitute the elder's sense of purpose. In a caring interaction with Creative Reminiscence, the nursed are able to transcend, moving back in time (past) to appreciate segment(s) of their lives, with triumphs and disappointments that give meaning to their inner conflict/human struggle (present), and integrate a sense of confidence and acceptance of their lives to sustain well-being and a sense of wholeness. This research highlights the similarities and differences in the description of memories by the nursing home residents evoked during Creative Reminiscence. / The results of the study support Erikson's notion of the circular nature of the life cycle, wherein there is an inherent need at the last stage of life to re-integrate ascendant psychosocial themes.Taking into account the meaning that nursing home residents ascribe to their experiences provided data on strategies nurses and caregivers can use effectively to help these elders transcend despair. Further research is recommended using a more diverse sample and in more diverse geographical locations. Current standardized instruments may be revised to quantify effects on the ascendant psychosocial themes. / by Germina Emily Risos Rio. / Thesis (D.N.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The research presented here focused primarily on an attempt to bridge the two literatures of source memory and metameory on the topic of 'monitoring'. The contributions were two-fold: an investigation of the viability of a metacognitive judgment for SM: the judgment of source learning (JOSL), and a simultaneous investigation of the relationship of age and 'monitoring' in source memory and metacognition. In the first experiment, young participants (18-25 years of age) were asked to predict (using JOSLs) whether they would be able to discriminate between pictures that were presented to them during study, images of words they generated during study, or words they never studied in a later memory test. Participants made either immediate or delayed JOSLs (on a 0-100 scale) for each item presented during the study phase. Experiment 2 was a cross-sectional study comparing young and old adults (60-80 years of age) using a modified version of the previous task. In both experiments, intraindividual correlations of JOSLs with SM (gammas) indicated that delayed JOSLs were accurate predictors of future SM performance. There were no effects of age on gamma correlations of JOSLs with SM. Based on these results, although SM showed an age-related deficit, metacognitive predictions of SM did not show this same effect.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-152). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29500

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-49).

This thesis investigates the effect of normal ageing on the strategies adopted during episodic memory retrieval, using a combination of neuropsychological profiling and neuroimaging data measured during performance on a source memory exclusion task. The exclusion task is a type of source memory task where participants distinguish between targets (studied items from one source e.g. female voice), non-targets (studied items from another source e.g. male voice) and new items. Unlike a source memory task where three separate buttons are pressed for each item at test, in the exclusion task one button is pressed for targets and a second for non-target and new items. As this task is more complex than a normal source memory paradigm and also allows participants to perform the task in more than one way, it places high emphasis on the use of strategies to facilitate retrieval and is therefore ideal for investigating strategic retrieval. Previous source memory studies have shown that while older adults are reasonably good at recognising whether items are old or new, they show marked impairments at remembering the source in which items were presented at study. Dual process theories propose that the age-related decline in source memory occurs because recollection becomes impaired with ageing whereas familiarity remains relatively spared. The results reported in this thesis support dual process theory. Experiment 2a showed that, behaviourally, as expected, the young outperformed the elderly. Event-related potentials (ERPs), recorded while a source memory exclusion test was performed, revealed that both young and older adults showed bilateral frontal and left parietal old/new effects, thought to index familiarity and recollection respectively. Importantly, the magnitude of the left parietal effect was significantly reduced in the older adults. The ERP findings also suggested that dual process theories represent an oversimplification of episodic memory decline with age. In Experiment 1a, three temporally and topographically distinct late frontal old/new effects were present in the younger adults: a bilateral anterior frontal effect (450-900ms post stimulus), a right prefrontal effect (900-1300ms) and a right frontal effect (1300-2000ms). Significant positive correlations between the magnitude of these effects and performance on neuropsychological tests of executive functioning in Experiment 1b, revealed that the bilateral anterior frontal effect was related to working memory, strategy use and planning; the right prefrontal effect was related to working memory and planning while the right frontal effect was related to planning. By contrast, the older adults in Experiment 2a only produced the right frontal effect, which correlated with planning across all three time windows in Experiment 2c. Post-retrieval monitoring in older adults therefore appeared to be qualitatively different than their younger counterparts. Performance on the neuropsychological tests in Experiment 2b, revealed that the older adults’ working memory and strategy use was impaired compared to the young, whereas planning was relatively intact, suggesting that age-related differences in post retrieval processing may be due to reduced executive functioning in older adults. Identifying distinct late frontal effects and demonstrating a relationship between these effects and specific executive functions is a novel finding. The presence of a left parietal target greater than non-target difference in the young adults from Experiment 1a and 2a was interpreted as the young reducing recollection of irrelevant non-target information. The modulation did not differ in magnitude for targets and non-targets in the elderly adults from Experiment 2a, suggesting they were less able to reduce activation of goal irrelevant non-target information. The results in the young adults from Experiment 1a also highlight the importance of considering the context of source information on the processes engaged at retrieval. The bilateral frontal effect was significant for the retrieval of the intrinsic context (source information inherent to the studied item), but not the extrinsic context (source information not inherent to the studied item). This finding was interpreted within a unitisation framework, where the intrinsic context became unitised with the item and enhanced familiarity based remembering. The findings also highlight that in order to fully understand post retrieval processing in both young and old adults, focus should move away from examining quantitative differences in the right frontal effect over long time periods and instead identify qualitatively distinct late frontal effects that may reflect the engagement of various executive functions over time.

Performance on the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale has been viewed as an indicator of working memory and visuospatial processing. A number of factors including age and gender have been posited to effect performance on Spatial Span by older adults. The current study examined the impact of various forms of cognitive impairment and severity of impairment on Spatial Span performance. Five hundred thirty-eight individuals between the ages of 65 and 89 were evaluated in a university memory disorders clinic using a battery of neuropsychological tests that included Spatial Span. Participants were grouped by consensus diagnosis into type of cognitive impairment (Alzheimer's disease, vascular disease, amnestic mild cognitive impairment or non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment) or cognitively normal. As expected, an increase in severity of impairment results in a decrease in Spatial Span Total Score. Other findings included a weak relationship between age and Spatial Span Total Score. Gender, as well as age, did not fully account for the decline in Spatial Span Total Score. Spatial Span Forward score was not as good a predictor of severity in that reduction in score for Spatial Span Forward remains relatively stable regardless of level of impairment. Spatial Span Backward performance was found to be more sensitive to severity. No significant differences were found between performance of Alzheimer's disease and vascular disease suggesting they share similar deficit patterns with regard to the cognitive abilities measured by the Spatial Span subtest. A comparison between those diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and individuals without such a diagnosis showed no significant difference suggesting that visuospatial processes are not affected early in the dementing process.