Memory Self-Efficacy and Beliefs about Memory and Aging in Oldest-Old Adults in the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study (LHAS).

Background/Study Context. Adaptation to normative age-related declines in memory is an important but understudied aspect of successful aging. The purpose of the present study was to shed new light on memory self-efficacy and beliefs about memory and aging as two integral aspects of adult cognition with relevance to successful aging. METHODS: Young (19 to 27 years) and community-dwelling older adults (60 to 94 years) from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study (LHAS) completed an adapted Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ) which includes a memory self-efficacy subscale, the Memory Controllability Inventory (MCI), and the Aging Concerns Scale (ACS). RESULTS: Nonagenarians' self-reported memory and beliefs about memory and aging were of central interest. We compared their responses to three younger reference groups to examine hypothesized differences in self-reported memory and beliefs about memory and aging in very late life. Results yielded age effects for most of the MFQ and MCI subscales demonstrating more positive subjective views about memory functioning and control over memory for the young adults. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to isolate factors that may be associated with memory self-efficacy. Age, symptoms of depression, and memory control beliefs accounted for approximately half of the variance in memory self-efficacy ratings. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that although memory self-efficacy may be age sensitive, we detected no differences in subjective views across the three older groups. Implications for cognitive adaptability and successful aging are considered.

Semantic encoding enhances the pictorial superiority effect in the oldest-old.

ABSTRACT We examined the effect of a semantic orienting task during encoding on free recall and recognition of simple line drawings and matching words in middle-aged (44-59 years), older (60-89 years), and oldest-old (90+ years) adults. Participants studied line drawings and matching words presented in blocked order. Half of the participants were given a semantic orienting task and the other half received standard intentional learning instructions. Results confirmed that the pictorial superiority effect was greater in magnitude following semantic encoding compared to the control condition. Analyses of clustering in free recall revealed that oldest-old adults' encoding and retrieval strategies were generally similar to the two younger groups. Self-reported strategy use was less frequent among the oldest-old adults. These data strongly suggest that semantic elaboration is an effective compensatory mechanism underlying preserved episodic memory performance that persists well into the ninth decade of life.

Effects of distraction and pictorial illustration on memory for countries in older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease.

Eight participants with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) were trained to recall names of countries using the spaced-retrieval memory intervention. Six training sessions were administered on alternate days over a 2-week period. Half of the participants studied a target country alone and the other half studied a target country along with eight distractor countries. Training stimuli appeared in text-only format in half of the sessions and text with a color photograph of the country in the other sessions. On each trial, participants selected the target at increasingly longer retention intervals, contingent upon successful recall. Results indicated that the mean proportion of correct trials and longest duration achieved increased across training sessions, confirming the success of the spaced-retrieval intervention. Pictorial illustrations enhanced explicit memory for target country names. Implications of these data for current views on memory remediation in cognitively impaired older adults are discussed.

Booster sessions enhance the long-term effectiveness of spaced retrieval in older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease.

Six older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) were trained to recall a name-face association using the spaced retrieval technique. In this study, we retested these persons in a 6-month follow-up program. For half of the participants, three booster sessions were administered at 6, 12, and 18 weeks after original training to promote long-term retention of the name- face association. Results yielded a mnemonic benefit of the booster sessions at retest. Participants were successful in transferring this association to the actual person in the target photograph. These data confirmed the positive effect of spaced retrieval on recall of a name-face association over a 6-month interval. Implications for memory remediation in cognitively impaired older adults are considered.

A comparison of adjusted spaced retrieval versus a uniform expanded retrieval schedule for learning a name-face association in older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease.

We compared the efficacy of two memory training schedules, adjusted spaced retrieval and uniform expanded retrieval, for learning a name-face association in 12 older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nine training sessions were administered on alternate days for three weeks. Results yielded a positive effect of adjusted spaced retrieval on the proportion of correct recall trials and greater success in transferring the learned information to the live target, compared to the uniform expanded retrieval schedule. These data suggest that the spacing effect may underlie the memorial benefit of spaced retrieval. Implications for practical uses of spaced retrieval are considered.