Surviving with story characters: What do we remember?

Readers simulate story characters' emotions, memories, and perceptual experiences. The current study consists of three experiments that investigated whether survival threat would amplify the mnemonic experience of a narrative. First, a replication study of Nairne et al. (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33 (2), 263-273, 2007) was conducted with minor methodological alternations and yielded improved recall for participants imagining themselves in a survival scenario over a moving scenario (Experiment 1). In Experiments 2 and 3, participants read stories about a character either stranded in the grasslands or moving to a foreign land. Improved recall for objects included in the story (Experiments 2 and 3) and recognition of story details (Experiment 3) was found when the character was in a survival situation. The largest effects were observed when the reader was asked to imagine themselves as the story character (Experiment 3). Overall, readers remembered survival-relevant details as if they were experiencing the story character's plight. These results extend research showing that survival processing enhances memory for word lists (e.g., Nairne et al., Psychological Science, 19 (2), 176-180, 2008).

The serial reproduction of an urban myth: revisiting Bartlett's schema theory.

Frederic Bartlett's schema theory is still widely misunderstood as claiming that remembering is inevitably unreliable. However, according to the logic of his schema theory, remembering should, in relation to certain kinds of material, be relatively reliable. In this study we examined whether a "well-worn" urban myth (the Vanishing Hitchhiker) could be exempt from the fate of other material used in Bartlett's own research on serial reproduction. Supporting Bartlett's ideas, we found that recall of the Hitchhiker story was better (if not perfect) over a series of five reproductions than recall of the classic War of the Ghosts. Recall was also better for a strict (as opposed to a lenient) audience, in line with another prediction from Bartlett's social theory of remembering. Notwithstanding this, we conclude with some critical remarks on the serial reproduction method as an approach to cultural memory.

The Effects of Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury on Episodic Memory: a Meta-Analysis.

Memory impairment following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is among its most pronounced effects. The present meta-analysis focused only on studies of episodic memory (n = 73) conducted with adult patients with moderate-to-severe TBI. The results indicate that verbal Memory, and more specifically Verbal Recall, is most sensitive to the effects of moderate-to-severe TBI. Furthermore, verbal more than visual memory and recall more than recognition are sensitive to the effects of TBI. These effects are more pronounced in delayed than in immediate testing. Several moderating factors were found: age at testing - the younger the age, the greater the effect size of verbal recall. A greater effect size of delayed story recall was related to an older age of testing and longer time since the injury. The higher the educational level, the smaller is the effect size of visual recall. The clinical implications are discussed.

Predictors of age-related and individual variability in autobiographical memory in childhood.

Development of autobiographical memory is as a gradual process beginning in early childhood and continuing through late adolescence. Substantial attention has been paid to early childhood when first personal memories are formed; less attention has been focused on the flourishing of memories from the late preschool years onward. We addressed this void with a three-year cohort-sequential study of age-related changes in the length, completeness, and coherence of autobiographical narratives by children 4-10 years. We also examined the unique and combined variance in autobiographical narrative explained by children's own language, maternal narrative style, domain-general cognitive abilities, non-autobiographical story recall, and memory-specific skills. There was substantial growth in autobiographical narrative skill across the 4-10-year period. Non-autobiographical story recall was a strong concurrent and cross-lagged predictor for all autobiographical narrative measures. Memory-specific and domain-general cognitive abilities systematically predicted narrative completeness and coherence but not length. Children's language and maternal narrative style did not contribute additional variance when these predictors were considered. The findings highlight that age-related changes in autobiographical memory are the results of combined contributions of a variety of domain-general and domain-specific predictors.

A comparison of story-recall metrics to predict hippocampal volume in older adults with and without cognitive impairment.

Objective: Process-based scores of episodic memory tests, such as the recency ratio (Rr), have been found to compare favourably to, or to be better than, most conventional or "traditional" scores employed to estimate memory ability in older individuals (Bock et al., 2021; Bruno et al., 2019). We explored the relationship between process-based scores and hippocampal volume in older adults, while comparing process-based to traditional story recall-derived scores, to examine potential differences in their predictive abilities. Methods: We analysed data from 355 participants extracted from the WRAP and WADRC databases, who were classified as cognitively unimpaired, or exhibited mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Story Recall was measured with the Logical Memory Test (LMT) from the Weschler Memory Scale Revised, collected within twelve months of the magnetic resonance imaging scan. Linear regression analyses were conducted with left or right hippocampal volume (HV) as outcomes separately, and with Rr, Total ratio, Immediate LMT, or Delayed LMT scores as predictors, along with covariates. Results: Higher Rr and Tr scores significantly predicted lower left and right HV, while Tr showed the best model fit of all, as indicated by AIC. Traditional scores, Immediate LMT and Delayed LMT, were significantly associated with left and right HV, but were outperformed by both process-based scores for left HV, and by Tr for right HV. Conclusions: Current findings show the direct relationship between hippocampal volume and all the LMT scores examined here, and that process-based scores outperform traditional scores as markers of hippocampal volume.

Associations between recall of proper names in story recall and CSF amyloid and tau in adults without cognitive impairment.

Neuropsychological measures sensitive to decline in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease are needed. We previously demonstrated that higher amyloid-beta (Aß) assessed by positron emission tomography in adults without cognitive impairment was associated with recall of fewer proper names in Logical Memory story recall. The current study investigated the association between proper names and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (Aß42/40, phosphorylated tau181 [pTau181], neurofilament light) in 223 participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention. We assessed associations between biomarkers and delayed Logical Memory total score and proper names using binary logistic regressions. Sensitivity analyses used multinomial logistic regression and stratified biomarker groups. Lower Logical Memory total score and proper names scores from the most recent visit were associated with biomarker positivity. Relatedly, there was a 27% decreased risk of being classified Aß42/40+/pTau181+ for each additional proper name recalled. A linear mixed effects model found that longitudinal change in proper names recall was predicted by biomarker status. These results demonstrate a novel relationship between proper names and Alzheimer's disease-cerebrospinal fluid pathology.

A comparison of diagnostic performance of word-list and story recall tests for biomarker-determined Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Wordlist and story recall tests are routinely employed in clinical practice for dementia diagnosis. In this study, our aim was to establish how well-standard clinical metrics compared to process scores derived from wordlist and story recall tests in predicting biomarker determined Alzheimer's disease, as defined by CSF ptau/Aß42 ratio. METHODS: Data from 295 participants (mean age = 65 ± 9.) were drawn from the University of Wisconsin - Madison Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) and Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP). Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT; wordlist) and Logical Memory Test (LMT; story) data were used. Bayesian linear regression analyses were carried out with CSF ptau/Aß42 ratio as outcome. Sensitivity analyses were carried out with logistic regressions to assess diagnosticity. RESULTS: LMT generally outperformed AVLT. Notably, the best predictors were primacy ratio, a process score indexing loss of information learned early during test administration, and recency ratio, which tracks loss of recently learned information. Sensitivity analyses confirmed this conclusion. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that story recall tests may be better than wordlist tests for detection of dementia, especially when employing process scores alongside conventional clinical scores.

The recency ratio assessed by story recall is associated with cerebrospinal fluid levels of neurodegeneration biomarkers.

Recency refers to the information learned at the end of a study list or task. Recency forgetting, as tracked by the ratio between recency recall in immediate and delayed conditions, i.e., the recency ratio (Rr), has been applied to list-learning tasks, demonstrating its efficacy in predicting cognitive decline, conversion to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of neurodegeneration. However, little is known as to whether Rr can be effectively applied to story recall tasks. To address this question, data were extracted from the database of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. A total of 212 participants were included in the study. CSF biomarkers were amyloid-beta (Aß) 40 and 42, phosphorylated (p) and total (t) tau, neurofilament light (NFL), neurogranin (Ng), and α-synuclein (a-syn). Story Recall was measured with the Logical Memory Test (LMT). We carried out Bayesian regression analyses with Rr, and other LMT scores as predictors; and CSF biomarkers (including the Aß42/40 and p-tau/Aß42 ratios) as outcomes. Results showed that models including Rr consistently provided best fits with the data, with few exceptions. These findings demonstrate the applicability of Rr to story recall and its sensitivity to CSF biomarkers of neurodegeneration, and encourage its inclusion when evaluating risk of neurodegeneration with story recall.

Reliability of the NACC Telephone-administered Neuropsychological Battery (T-cog) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment for participants in the USC ADRC.

Introduction: Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated remote administration of neuropsychological testing. We assessed the test-retest reliability for a telephone-administered cognitive battery, recommended for use in the National Institute on Aging Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). Methods: 64 participants in the University of Southern California ADRC clinical core underwent repeat telephone evaluation using the T-cog Neuropsychological Battery. Reliability was measured by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for continuous variables and weighted Kappa coefficient for categorical variables. Mean scores for Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) total and Craft Story 21 Immediate and Delayed Recall were compared using paired t tests. Results: Mean age was 74.8 (8.3 standard deviation); 73.4% were female. ICCs ranged from 0.52 to 0.84, indicating moderate test-retest reliability except for number span backward, which showed poor reliability. Weighted Kappa for MoCA items ranged from -0.016 to 0.734; however, relatively good observed agreement was seen across all items (70.3% to 98.4%). Although MoCA total scores did not significantly change, Craft Story 21 Immediate and Delayed Recall mean scores increased between first and second administrations (P < 0.0001). Discussion: Test-retest reliability for the T-cog Neuropsychological Battery is adequate. The variation seen in testing is similar to results seen from face-to-face testing, with Craft Story 21 recall showing modest and expected practice effects. Highlights: Moderate test-retest reliability is seen in most measures of the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Neuropsychological Test Battery and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.52 to 0.84, except for number Span backward.Weighted Kappa for MoCA items varied, but good observed agreement was seen.MoCA total mean score did not change significantly between administrations.Craft Story 21 Immediate and Delayed Recall means increased on repeat testing (P < 0.0001).

On the importance of using local tests and local norms in the assessment of memory.

The current study compared the assessment of memory with a translated story recall test and its original published norms and an equivalent local test with local norms. Analyses used data from 232 individuals with memory complaints who underwent neuropsychological evaluation at an outpatient memory clinic. One group of participants completed a translated test (N = 126) and another group completed a local test (N = 106). Additionally, participants completed tasks of word list recall, picture naming, and verbal fluency, all having local norms. The results showed that raw scores on the delayed story recall test, and on all other cognitive tasks, did not differ across groups, and the cross-task correlations were significant and similar in size in both groups. Yet, there was an interaction between group and standardized tests scores, whereby the standardized scores on the translated story recall test were equivalent to population mean, whereas all other scores fell below the mean. Conversion of raw scores to the original norms indicated that the performance of individuals with memory complaints was intact, while conversion of scores on a local test to local norms revealed the expected memory impairment. The findings highlight the importance of using local tests and local norms in the assessment of memory.

Serial position effects in the Logical Memory Test: Loss of primacy predicts amyloid positivity.

BACKGROUND: Story recall is a frequently used neuropsychological test of episodic memory with clinical populations and for screening participants in drug trials for Alzheimer's disease. However, it is unclear at this stage which underlying mechanisms confer the test its sensitivity. In this paper, we examined serial position effects, that is, better recall for items learned early and late on a list, in story recall, and their usefulness to predict early changes associated with neurodegenerative markers. METHODS: We analysed data from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention. First, we tested whether serial position effects were present in story recall (measured with the Wechsler Memory Scale Logical Memory Task; LMT) across individuals who were classified as cognitively unimpaired - stable, cognitively unimpaired - declining, or as having mild cognitive impairment (MCI). RESULTS: Our results showed clear serial position effects for all groups, except for delayed recall among individuals with MCI, where no primacy effect was observed. Second, we tested whether loss of primacy from immediate to delayed recall was associated with amyloid burden (as measured with PiB PET) in individuals who were cognitively unimpaired at baseline. We found that more primacy loss predicted amyloid positivity, above and beyond the LMT total score. CONCLUSIONS: This report is the first to show that loss of primacy between immediate and delayed story recall is associated with amyloid burden.

The Impact of Naturalistic Age Stereotype Activation.

Almost self-fulfilling, commonly held negative stereotypes about old age and memory can impair older adults' episodic memory performance, due to age-based stereotype threat or self-stereotyping effects. Research studies demonstrating detrimental impacts of age stereotypes on memory performance are generally conducted in research laboratories or medical settings, which often underestimate memory abilities of older adults. To better understand the "real world" impact of negative age and memory stereotypes on episodic memory, the present research tested story recall performance of late middle-aged and older adults (N = 51) following a naturalistic age stereotype manipulation, wherein every day, newspaper-style materials (comics and puzzles) were either embedded with negative age and memory stereotype stimuli (stereotype group) or neutral stimuli (control group). Furthermore, all participants were tested in favorable, familiar environments. Potential moderators of the stereotype effects, e.g., metamemory beliefs, were assessed at baseline. Current memory evaluation and subjective age, as well as perceived stereotype threat and task-related anxiety, were assessed following the stereotype manipulation as potential mechanisms of the expected stereotype effects. Results suggested a contrast effect, as the stereotype group demonstrated superior story recall performance compared to the control group. Marginally significant moderation effects by age and perceived stereotype threat indicated that stereotype rejection was present for late middle-aged adults but not older adults, indicative of stereotype lift, and for individuals who reported low and average, but not high, levels of perceived stereotype threat. Additionally, a trend suggested more positive memory evaluation for those in the stereotype group who reported awareness of the stereotype stimuli than those who did not notice the stimuli. These results are consistent with other research demonstrating benefits to memory performance in adulthood based on motivational and contextual factors, such as using relevant memory materials and testing in favorable conditions. Moreover, the results of this study contribute to our understanding of individuals' responses to different types of stereotype stimuli, and the differential impact of stereotype manipulations that are subtle versus blatant. Individuals were motivated to counteract negative stereotype effects when conditions were supportive, stereotype presentations were naturalistic, and personal beliefs were positive.

Are Superficially Dissimilar Analogs better retrieved than Superficially Similar Disanalogs?

In the present study, we tested the assumption that structural similarity overcomes surface similarity in the retrieval of past events, by observing whether structural similarity alone is a better cue than surface similarity alone. To do so, in four story-recall experiments, we provided the participants with multiple source stories and then with a target cue story. This target cue only shared either surface or structural similarity with the source stories. In Experiment 1A, a Superficially Similar Disanalog source story (SSD) and a Superficially Dissimilar Analog source story (SDA) were presented among Superficially Dissimilar Disanalog source stories (SDDs). A soundness rating task was used in Experiment 1B to control the absence of structural similarity among the SSDs presented in Experiment 1A. In Experiment 2, the number of SSDs was increased in the aim to reproduce more ecological conditions. In two further experiments, a five minute (Experiment 3) and a 45 minute (Experiment 4) delay was introduced, and supplementary source stories were presented, in order to make the study more similar to previous story-recall paradigms. The results of the four story-recall experiments support the dominance of structural over surface similarities in analogical retrieval. The role of a structurally-based access regarding the retrieval of Superficially Similar Analogs (SSAs) and SDAs is discussed, as well as the factors underlying the rare occurrence of SDAs retrievals in previous experiments.

Proper names from story recall are associated with beta-amyloid in cognitively unimpaired adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Due to advances in the early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers including beta-amyloid (Aß), neuropsychological measures that are sensitive to concurrent, subtle changes in cognition are critically needed. Story recall tasks have shown sensitivity to early memory declines in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early stage dementia, as well as in persons with autosomal dominantly inherited AD up to 10 years prior to a dementia diagnosis. However, the evidence is inconclusive regarding relationships between evidence of Aß and story recall measures. Because story recall tasks require the encoding and delayed retrieval of several lexical-semantic categories, such as proper names, verbs, and numerical expressions, and because lexical categories have been shown to be differentially impaired in persons with MCI, we focused on item-level analyses of lexical-semantic retrieval from a quintessential story recall task, Logical Memory from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. Our objective was to investigate whether delayed recall of lexical categories (proper names, verbs and/or numerical expressions), as well as the traditional total score measure, was associated with "preclinical AD," or cognitively unimpaired adults with positive Aß deposition on positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging using Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB). We developed an item-level scoring system, in which we parsed items into lexical categories and examined the immediate and delayed recall of these lexical categories from 217 cognitively unimpaired participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP). We performed binary logistic regression models with story recall score as predictor and Aß status (positive/negative) as the outcome. Using baseline Logical Memory data, proper names from delayed story recall were significantly associated with Aß status, such that participants who recalled more proper names were less likely to be classified as PiB(+) (odds ratio = .58, p = .01). None of the other story recall variables, including total score, were associated with PiB status. Secondary analyses determined that immediate recall of proper names was not significantly associated with Aß, suggesting a retrieval deficit rather than that of encoding. The present findings suggest that lexical semantic retrieval measures from existing story recall tasks may be sensitive to Aß deposition, and may provide added utility to a widely-used, long-standing neuropsychological test for early detection of cognitive decline on the AD continuum.

Memory performance on the story recall test and prediction of cognitive dysfunction progression in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia.

AIM: To determine the factors that influence diagnosis and differentiation of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's dementia (AD) by comparing memory test results at baseline with those at 1-2-year follow up. METHODS: We consecutively recruited 23 healthy participants, 44 MCI patients and 27 patients with very mild AD according to the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorder Association criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease and Petersen's clinical diagnostic criteria. We carried out detailed neuropsychological tests, including the Story Recall Test (SRT) and the Seoul Verbal Learning Test, for all participants. We defined study participants as the "progression group" as follows: (i) participants who showed conversion to dementia from the MCI state; and (ii) those with dementia who showed more than a three-point decrement in their Mini-Mental State Examination scores with accompanying functional decline from baseline status, which were ascertained by physician's clinical judgment. RESULTS: The SRT delayed recall scores were significantly lower in the patients with mild AD than in those with MCI and after progression. Lower (relative risk 1.1, 95% confidence interval 0.1-1.6) and higher SRT delayed recall scores (relative risk 2.1, confidence interval 1.0-2.8), and two-test combined immediate and delayed recall scores (relative risk 2.0, confidence interval 0.9-2.3; and relative risk 2.8, confidence interval 1.1-4.2, respectively) were independent predictors of progression in a stepwise multiple adjusted Cox proportional hazards model, with age, sex, depression and educational level forced into the model. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that the SRT delayed recall score independently predicts progression to dementia in patients with MCI. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1603-1609.

Association between story recall and other language abilities in schoolchildren with ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of working memory, vocabulary, and grammar on narrative comprehension in children with ADHD. METHOD: Participants were 25 schoolchildren with ADHD and 25 typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological age and performance IQ. Children were assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III), a verbal IQ test, and a story recall task. RESULTS: It was shown that children with ADHD recall less information from the stories than did TD children, while they are less sensitive to the importance of the information they recall. Moreover, it was found that children with ADHD experience problems in answering factual questions. Further analysis revealed that deficiencies in narrative comprehension may be accounted for by problems in working memory. CONCLUSION: The discussion focuses on the role of working memory in narrative comprehension and the implications of these findings for intervention approaches.

A Story Mapping Intervention to Improve Narrative Comprehension Deficits in Adolescents with ADHD.

The current study examined the effects of an 8-week Story Mapping Intervention (SMI) to improve narrative comprehension in adolescents with ADHD. Thirty 12 - 16 year-old adolescents with ADHD who were participating in a summer treatment program for adolescents with ADHD received the SMI instruction ten times and completed SMI homework ten times in a structured environment with teacher feedback. Recall of fables and story creation were assessed before and after the SMI. At post-test, fable recalls included more of the most important events, were more coherent, and included a greater number of plausible inferences than pre-test fable recalls. SMI homework scores accounted for increases in recall of important events and plausible inferences, suggesting that consistent practice and feedback with story mapping could contribute to important recall gains. In contrast, the inclusion of goal-based events and the rated coherence of created stories did not improve, suggesting that more explicit instruction in applying story mapping to story creation may be required.

More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children's story recall.

Previous research showed that story illustrations fail to enhance young preschoolers' memories when they accompany a pre-recorded story (e.g., Greenhoot and Semb, 2008). In this study we tested whether young children might benefit from illustrations in a more interactive story-reading context. For instance, illustrations might influence parent-child reading interactions, and thus children's story comprehension and recall. Twenty-six 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds and their primary caregivers were randomly assigned to an Illustrated or Non-Illustrated story-reading condition, and parents were instructed to "read or tell the story" as they normally would read with their child. Children recalled the story after a distracter and again after 1 week. Analyses of the story-reading interactions showed that the illustrations prompted more interactive story reading and more parent and child behaviors known to predict improved literacy outcomes. Furthermore, in the first memory interview, children in the Illustrated condition recalled more story events than those in the Non-Illustrated condition. Story reading measures predicted recall, but did not completely account for picture effects. These results suggest that illustrations enhance young preschoolers' story recall in an interactive story reading context, perhaps because the joint attention established in this context supports children's processing of the illustrations.

Story recall and word lists: differential and combined utilities in predicting cognitive diagnosis.

OBJECTIVES: Verbal memory assessment metrics are an essential component of cognitive screening tools. We compared the relative utilities of word list and story recall metrics in predicting cognitive functioning in nondemented and demented nursing home patients. We selected memory metrics from the Brief Cognitive Assessment Tool (BCAT) and the Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS). The BCAT incorporates both word lists and story recall metrics, while the BIMS only has a word list feature. METHOD: Two hundred and thirty-nine individuals residing in a Maryland skilled nursing facility were referred for neurocognitive evaluation over a one-year period. These residents met inclusion criteria for retrospective data analysis by completing the BCAT and BIMS and were aged 60 or older. RESULTS: For the entire sample and for demented individuals, all four verbal memory metrics significantly predicted cognitive diagnosis. For nondemented individuals, only the BCAT delayed word list significantly predicted cognitive diagnosis. There appears to be enhanced utility in using both verbal memory metric types, as the inclusion of word list and story recall was a stronger predictor of cognitive diagnosis than any individual verbal memory metric. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of using cognitive screening tools that contain both story recall and word list metrics. This is particularly true in long-term care settings where the base rate of cognitive impairment is high.