Cortical thickness reveals sex differences in verbal and visuospatial memory.

Although previous studies have reported the sex differences in behavior/cognition and the brain, the sex difference in the relationship between memory abilities and the underlying neural basis in the aging process remains unclear. In this study, we used a machine learning model to estimate the association between cortical thickness and verbal/visuospatial memory in females and males and then explored the sex difference of these associations based on a community-elderly cohort (n = 1153, age ranged from 50.42 to 86.67 years). We validated that females outperformed males in verbal memory, while males outperformed females in visuospatial memory. The key regions related to verbal memory in females include the medial temporal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and some regions around the insula. Further, those regions are more located in limbic, dorsal attention, and default-model networks, and are associated with face recognition and perception. The key regions related to visuospatial memory include the lateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, and some occipital regions. They overlapped more with dorsal attention, frontoparietal and visual networks, and were associated with object recognition. These findings imply the memory performance advantage of females and males might be related to the different memory processing tendencies and their associated network.

Brain extended and closed forms glutathione levels decrease with age and extended glutathione is associated with visuospatial memory.

During aging, the brain is subject to greater oxidative stress (OS), which is thought to play a critical role in cognitive impairment. Glutathione (GSH), as a major antioxidant in the brain, can be used to combat OS. However, how brain GSH levels vary with age and their associations with cognitive function is unclear. In this study, we combined point-resolved spectroscopy and edited spectroscopy sequences to investigate extended and closed forms GSH levels in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and occipital cortex (OC) of 276 healthy participants (extended form, 166 females, age range 20-70 years) and 15 healthy participants (closed form, 7 females, age range 26-56 years), and examined their relationships with age and cognitive function. The results revealed decreased extended form GSH levels with age in the PCC among 276 participants. Notably, the timecourse of extended form GSH level changes in the PCC and ACC differed between males and females. Additionally, positive correlations were observed between extended form GSH levels in the PCC and OC and visuospatial memory. Additionally, a decreased trend of closed form GSH levels with age was also observed in the PCC among 15 participants. Taken together, these findings enhance our understanding of the brain both closed and extended form GSH time course during normal aging and associations with sex and memory, which is an essential first step for understanding the neurochemical underpinnings of healthy aging.

Visuospatial memory in apraxia: Exploring quantitative drawing metrics to assess the representation of local and global information.

Neuropsychological evidence suggests that visuospatial memory is subserved by two separable processing systems, with dorsal underpinnings for global form and ventral underpinnings for the integration of part elements. Previous drawing studies have explored the effects of Gestalt organisation upon memory for hierarchical stimuli, and we here present an exploratory study of an apraxic dorsal stream patient's (MH) performance. We presented MH with a stimulus set (previously reported by Riddoch et al., Cognitive Neuropsychology, 20(7), 641-671, 2003) and devised a novel quantitative scoring system to obtain a finer grain of insight into performance. Stimuli possessed either good or poor Gestalt qualities and were reproduced in a copy condition and two visual memory conditions (with unlimited viewing before the model was removed, or with 3 s viewing). MH's copying performance was impaired in comparison to younger adult and age-matched older adult controls, with a variety of errors at the local level but relatively few at the global level. However, his performance in the visual memory conditions revealed impairments at the global level. For all participants, drawing errors were modulated by the Gestalt qualities of the stimuli, with accuracy at the global and local levels being lesser for poor global stimuli in all conditions. These data extend previous observations of this patient, and support theories that posit interaction between dorsal and ventral streams in the representation of hierarchical stimuli. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of visuospatial memory in neurological patients, and also evaluate the application of quantitative metrics to the interpretation of drawings.

Exploring Information Flow from Posteromedial Cortex during Visuospatial Working Memory: A Magnetoencephalography Study.

The posteromedial cortex (PMC) is a major hub of the brain's default mode network, and is implicated in a broad range of internally driven cognitions, including visuospatial working memory. However, its precise contribution to these cognitive processes remains unclear. Using MEG, we measured PMC activity in healthy human participants (young adults of both sexes) while they performed a visuospatial working memory task. Multivariate pattern classification analyses revealed stimulus-related information during encoding and retrieval in a set of a priori defined cortical ROIs, including prefrontal, occipital, and ventrotemporal cortices, in addition to PMC. We measured the extent to which this stimulus information was exchanged between areas in an information flow analysis, measuring Granger-causal relationships between areas over time. Consistent with the visual nature of the task, information from occipital cortex shaped other regions across most epochs. However, the PMC shaped object representations in occipital and prefrontal cortices during visuospatial working memory, influencing occipital cortex during retrieval and PFC across all task epochs. Our findings are consistent with a proposed role for the PMC in the representation of internal content, including remembered information, and in the comparison of external stimuli with remembered material.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The human brain operates as a collection of highly interconnected regions. Mapping the function of this interconnectivity, as well as the specializations within different regions, is central to understanding the neural processes underlying cognition. The posteromedial cortex (PMC) is a highly connected cortical region, implicated in visuospatial working memory, although its precise contribution remains unclear. We measured the activity of PMC during a visuospatial working memory task, testing how different regions represented the stimuli, and whether these representations were driven by other cortical regions. We found that PMC influenced stimulus information in other regions across all task phases, suggesting that PMC plays a key role in shaping stimulus representations during visuospatial working memory.

Neurocognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis and its association with thiol-disulfide homeostasis and ischemia-modified albumin.

This study aimed to assess the possible association between cognitive impairment and two important biochemical biomarkers of oxidative stress, thiol-disulfide homeostasis (TDH), and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This study included 85 patients with MS (38 treatment-naïve relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), 31 RRMS on fingolimod therapy, and 16 secondary progressive MS (SPMS)) and 33 healthy controls. Cognitive evaluation was carried out by applying the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) test battery and the scores were adjusted for age and years of education. Plasma TDH was assessed using an automated method and plasma IMA levels were determined using the cobalt-albumin binding assay. Plasma native thiol and total thiol levels were significantly decreased in patients with SPMS when compared with the naïve patients and healthy controls. Cognitive impairment was detected in 47.4% of naïve patients, 64.5% of patients on fingolimod therapy, and 80% of patients with SPMS. Naïve patients or patients on fingolimod therapy who were cognitively impaired had significantly decreased levels of native thiol and total thiol compared to the cognitively normal patients. Logistic regression analysis revealed total thiol and native thiol to be significantly associated with cognitive impairment in naïve patients and patients on fingolimod therapy. Significant correlations were determined between BICAMS scores, TDH, IMA, clinical indices of disease severity (EDSS and MSSS), and magnetic resonance imaging parameters. This study has shown for the first time that plasma TDH parameters are associated with cognitive impairment in MS.

Cortical gyrification differences between early- and late-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder: neurobiological evidence for neurodevelopmentally distinct subtypes.

BACKGROUND: Identifying more homogenous subtypes of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using biological evidence is critical for understanding complexities of the disorder in this heterogeneous population. Age of onset serves as a useful subtyping scheme for distinguishing OCD into two subgroups that aligns with neurodevelopmental perspectives. The underlying neurobiological markers for these distinct neurodevelopmental differences can be identified by investigating gyrification changes to establish biological evidence-based homogeneous subtypes. METHODS: We compared whole-brain cortical gyrification in 84 patients with early-onset OCD, 84 patients with late-onset OCD, and 152 healthy controls (HCs) to identify potential markers for early neurodevelopmental deficits using the local gyrification index (lGI). Then, the relationships between lGI in clusters showing significant differences and performance in visuospatial memory and verbal fluency, which are considered trait-related neurocognitive impairments in OCD, were further examined in early-onset OCD patients. RESULTS: The early-onset OCD patients exhibited significantly greater gyrification than those with late-onset OCD patients and HCs in frontoparietal and cingulate regions, including the bilateral precentral, postcentral, precuneus, paracentral, posterior cingulate, superior frontal, and caudal anterior cingulate gyri. Moreover, impaired neurocognitive functions in early-onset OCD patients were correlated with increased gyrification. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide a neurobiological marker to distinguish the OCD population into more neurodevelopmentally homogeneous subtypes, which may contribute to the understanding of the neurodevelopmental underpinnings of an etiology in early-onset OCD consistent with the accumulated phenotypic evidence of greater neurodevelopmental deficits in early-onset OCD than in late-onset OCD.

The Brief International Cognitive Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS): Validation in Arabic and Lebanese Normative Values.

OBJECTIVE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is often associated with cognitive deficits. Accurate evaluation of the MS patients' cognitive performance is essential for diagnosis and treatment recommendation. The Brief International Cognitive Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS), widely used cognitive testing battery, examines processing speed, verbal and visuospatial learning, and memory. Our study aims to examine the psychometric properties of an Arabic version of the BICAMS and to provide normative values in a Lebanese sample. METHOD: The BICAMS, comprised of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), and a newly developed verbal learning/memory test, the Verbal Memory Arabic Test (VMAT), were administered on healthy subjects and MS patients. The sample consisted of 180 healthy individuals, of whom 63 were retested after 2-3 weeks. Forty-three MS patients matched with 43 healthy subjects based on age, sex, and years of education were assessed. A sample of 10 MS patients was also examined on two occasions. Test-retest reliability and criterion-related validity were examined, and regression-based norms were derived. RESULTS: The test-retest correlations showed good evidence of reliability with coefficients ranging between 0.64 and 0.73 in the healthy sample, and between 0.43 and 0.92 in the MS sample. The BICAMS was able to discriminate between MS patients and matched healthy participants on the SDMT and BVMT-R. Normative data were comparable to other studies. CONCLUSIONS: This new Arabic version of the BICAMS shows initial good psychometric properties. While good evidence of VMAT's reliability was shown in the healthy participants, less test-retest reliability in this tool was seen in the MS group, and partial criterion-related validity was evident. This renders further examination of the VMAT. We provide regression-based norms for a Lebanese sample and encourage the use of this battery in both research and clinical settings.

Orangutan strategies for solving a visuospatial memory task.

The popular game known as Concentration (also commonly referred to as Memory), in which players search for matching pairs among a grid of face-down cards, provides a robust platform for examining visuospatial memory in a simple and nonverbal way. Five orangutans (Pongo ssp.) at the Indianapolis Zoo were given a modified version of the Concentration Game in which three cards were shown face-down on a computer screen, two of which matched each other while the third was a foil. Subjects overturned two cards at a time by touching them, with trials terminating in a food reward if the overturned cards matched, or reverting to their face-down position if they did not. A constraint was experimentally imposed on the game whereby the first two cards touched would never match, resulting in an optimal strategy composed of touching the first two cards, followed by the third, followed by the card among the first two cards that matched the third. We aimed to measure the extent to which orangutans would memorize and utilize visuospatial cues to solve the task in the optimal manner. Findings showed that three of five subjects utilized an optimal strategy more often than would be expected by chance, but also over utilized specific patterns of choices instead of adjusting their strategies to minimize the overall number of card flips. Visuospatial recall played a role in several of the participants' strategies for completing the task, but not to an extent that was necessary to achieve optimal gameplay.

A Comprehensive Meta-analysis on Short-term and Working Memory Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease.

A previous meta-analysis demonstrated short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) dysfunction in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, considerable research on the topic that calls into question the extent of such impairments in PD has since been published. The aim of the present quantitative review was to provide the largest statistical overview on STM and WM dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD), while simultaneously providing novel insights on moderating factors of effect size heterogeneity in PD. The systematic literature search in PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Scopus and Web of Science databases allowed us to estimate 350 effect sizes from 145 empirical studies that reported STM and WM scores for patients with PD against healthy controls. The outcomes indicated general dysfunction in the visuospatial domain and poor verbal WM in PD. Subgroup analyses suggested that mild cognitive impairment is associated with STM and WM difficulties in PD. Furthermore, meta-regression analyses revealed that disease duration accounted for more than 80% of the visuospatial STM effect size variance (ß = 0.136, p < .001, R2 = .8272), larger daily levodopa equivalent dose was associated with WM dysfunction (verbal: ß = -0.001, p = .016, R2 = .1812; visuospatial: ß = 0.003, p = .069, R2 = .2340), and years of education partially explained the verbal STM effect size variance (ß = -0.027, p = .040, R2 = .1171). Collectively, these findings advance our understanding of underlying factors that influence STM and WM functioning in PD, while at the same time providing novel directions for future research.

Effects of age of onset and medication on cognitive performance and quality of life in patients with epilepsy.

Previous research shows that earlier age of onset of epilepsy and larger antiepileptic drug (AED) load are related to cognitive impairment and lower quality of life in patients with epilepsy. However, there has been a discrepancy in the specific cognitive domains that are affected and whether AED load is a significant contributor to the cognitive impairment. This study aimed to examine (a) the specific cognitive domains that are affected by age of epilepsy onset and (b) the effects of AED treatment and age of onset on cognition and quality of life. Participant data included scores on (1) the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), (2) Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), (3) Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), (4) Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT), (5) Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-31), (6) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2), and (7) a medical record review for drug treatment information. Earlier age of epilepsy onset predicted lower auditory attention span and working memory as assessed by digit span forward (DSF) and digit span backward (DSB). Additionally, larger AED load predicted lower visuospatial memory as assessed by BVMT-Delayed Recall (BVMT-DR). No relationship between either age of onset or AED load and quality of life in epilepsy was found. However, depression was highly correlated with quality of life. These results highlight the need to balance epilepsy control and AED effects, especially in early-onset epilepsy, and to gain awareness of the specific cognitive domains affected by epilepsy variables to effectively monitor and treat it.

Strategic encoding and enhanced memory for positive value-location associations.

People often need to remember the location of important objects or events, and also to remember locations that are associated with negative objects. In the current study, we examined how both positive and negative items might be selectively remembered in the visuospatial domain. Participants studied number-items ranging from -25 to +25 indicating point values in a grid display and were instructed to maximize their score (a summation of correctly remembered positive and negative information; incorrectly placed negative items resulted in a subtraction from the overall score). Items were presented in a sequential, simultaneous (Experiment 1), or self-regulated format (Experiment 2) where participants controlled which items to study and the length of study time per item. In Experiment 1, participants selectively recalled high-magnitude over low-magnitude items, but also displayed a positivity preference in memory. In Experiment 2, we were able to determine whether this positivity preference was a result of bottom-up, automatic, or top-down strategic processes. Results indicated that participants explicitly chose to study positive items more frequently and for more total time relative to negative items, suggesting a deliberate strategy to focus on positive information. This bias for highly positive information suggests an overt points-gained approach, as opposed to a loss-aversion approach, to remembering value in the visuospatial domain.

Gradual acquisition of visuospatial associative memory representations via the dorsal precuneus.

Activation of parietal cortex structures like the precuneus is commonly observed during explicit memory retrieval, but the role of parietal cortices in encoding has only recently been appreciated and is still poorly understood. Considering the importance of the precuneus in human visual attention and imagery, we aimed to assess a potential role for the precuneus in the encoding of visuospatial representations into long-term memory. We therefore investigated the acquisition of constant versus repeatedly shuffled configurations of icons on background images over five subsequent days in 32 young, healthy volunteers. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted on Days 1, 2, and 5, and persistent memory traces were assessed by a delayed memory test after another 5 days. Constant compared to shuffled configurations were associated with significant improvement of position recognition from Day 1 to 5 and better delayed memory performance. Bilateral dorsal precuneus activations separated constant from shuffled configurations from Day 2 onward, and coactivation of the precuneus and hippocampus dissociated recognized and forgotten configurations, irrespective of condition. Furthermore, learning of constant configurations elicited increased functional coupling of the precuneus with dorsal and ventral visual stream structures. Our results identify the precuneus as a key brain structure in the acquisition of detailed visuospatial information by orchestrating a parieto-occipito-temporal network.

Profiles of visuospatial memory dysfunction in opioid-exposed and dependent populations.

BACKGROUND: Chronic opioid exposure is common world-wide, but behavioural performance remains under-investigated. This study aimed to investigate visuospatial memory performance in opioid-exposed and dependent clinical populations and its associations with measures of intelligence and cognitive impulsivity. METHODS: We recruited 109 participants: (i) patients with a history of opioid dependence due to chronic heroin use (n = 24), (ii) heroin users stabilised on methadone maintenance treatment (n = 29), (iii) participants with a history of chronic pain and prescribed tramadol and codeine (n = 28) and (iv) healthy controls (n = 28). The neuropsychological tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery included the Delayed Matching to Sample (DMS), Pattern Recognition Memory, Spatial Recognition Memory, Paired Associate Learning, Spatial Span Task, Spatial Working Memory and Cambridge Gambling Task. Pre-morbid general intelligence was assessed using the National Adult Reading Test. RESULTS: As hypothesised, this study identified the differential effects of chronic heroin and methadone exposures on neuropsychological measures of visuospatial memory (p < 0.01) that were independent of injecting behaviour and dependence status. The study also identified an improvement in DMS performance (specifically at longer delays) when the methadone group was compared with the heroin group and also when the heroin group was stabilised onto methadone. Results identified differential effects of chronic heroin and methadone exposures on various neuropsychological measures of visuospatial memory independently from addiction severity measures, such as injecting behaviour and dependence status.

Maternal choline supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy improves infant information processing speed: a randomized, double-blind, controlled feeding study.

Rodent studies demonstrate that supplementing the maternal diet with choline during pregnancy produces life-long cognitive benefits for the offspring. In contrast, the two experimental studies examining cognitive effects of maternal choline supplementation in humans produced inconsistent results, perhaps because of poor participant adherence and/or uncontrolled variation in intake of choline or other nutrients. We examined the effects of maternal choline supplementation during pregnancy on infant cognition, with intake of choline and other nutrients tightly controlled. Women entering their third trimester were randomized to consume, until delivery, either 480 mg choline/d ( n = 13) or 930 mg choline/d ( n = 13). Infant information processing speed and visuospatial memory were tested at 4, 7, 10, and 13 mo of age ( n = 24). Mean reaction time averaged across the four ages was significantly faster for infants born to mothers in the 930 ( vs. 480) mg choline/d group. This result indicates that maternal consumption of approximately twice the recommended amount of choline during the last trimester improves infant information processing speed. Furthermore, for the 480-mg choline/d group, there was a significant linear effect of exposure duration (infants exposed longer showed faster reaction times), suggesting that even modest increases in maternal choline intake during pregnancy may produce cognitive benefits for offspring.-Caudill, M. A., Strupp, B. J., Muscalu, L., Nevins, J. E. H., Canfield, R. L. Maternal choline supplementation during the third trimester of pregnancy improves infant information processing speed: a randomized, double-blind, controlled feeding study.

Visuospatial learning is fostered in migraine: evidence by a neuropsychological study.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive profile in migraine patients still remains undefined. Contradictory evidence has been provided, with impairments in different cognitive domains, normal cognition, or even better performance compared to healthy controls (HC). The latter is of particular interest considering the evidence of glutamatergic upregulation in migraine, particularly in the visual cortex, and the role of the glutamatergic system in synaptic plasticity and learning. The aim of our study is to compare cognitive performance for visuospatial memory and learning (supraspan modality) between migraineurs without aura (MwoA) and HC. METHODS: Twenty-one subjects suffering from MwoA and 21 HC were enrolled. Migraineurs during the interictal phase and HC underwent visuospatial memory test (Corsi test) and verbal memory test (Buschke Selective Reminding Test) in supraspan modality, Trial Making Test A (TMTA) and B (TMTB) as test exploring attention, and TMTB-TMTA as test of executive functioning. Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory Short Form (BDI-SF). Migraine characteristics (i.e., disease duration and frequency expressed as attacks per month) were collected. RESULTS: Subjects with MwoA showed better performance than HC in test exploring both short (p = 0.002) and long-term (p = 0.001) visuospatial memory. No significant difference between groups was found in verbal memory, attention, executive functioning, and depression (BDI-SF). No significant association emerged between cognitive performance and migraine characteristics. DISCUSSION: Subjects with MwoA had significant better performance in visuospatial memory and learning than HC. Occipito-parietal hyperexcitability (in particular in the visual cortex), which is a hallmark of the migraine brain, would probably explain these results. These data need to be confirmed in larger samples of migraineurs.

Visuospatial declarative learning despite profound verbal declarative amnesia in Korsakoff's syndrome.

Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterised by severe amnesia. Although the presence of impairments in memory has long been acknowledged, there is a lack of knowledge about the precise characteristics of declarative memory capacities in order to implement memory rehabilitation. In this study, we investigated the extent to which patients diagnosed with KS have preserved declarative memory capacities in working memory, long-term memory encoding or long-term memory recall operations, and whether these capacities are most preserved for verbal or visuospatial content. The results of this study demonstrate that patients with KS have compromised declarative memory functioning on all memory indices. Performance was lowest for the encoding operation compared to the working memory and delayed recall operation. With respect to the content, visuospatial memory was relatively better preserved than verbal memory. All memory operations functioned suboptimally, although the most pronounced disturbance was found in verbal memory encoding. Based on the preserved declarative memory capacities in patients, visuospatial memory can form a more promising target for compensatory memory rehabilitation than verbal memory. It is therefore relevant to increase the number of spatial cues in memory rehabilitation for KS patients.

Memory for positional movements as a component of the visuospatial working memory.

Though the Corsi block-tapping task (CBT) is widely used for assessing visuospatial memory, information about what exactly it measures is still debated. We investigated such issue by observing how motor, visual, and spatial secondary tasks affect the performance on three versions of the CBT. Results showed a double dissociation pattern, wherein two motor secondary tasks had larger effects when the CBT was administered by the examiner tapping on the blocks. A spatial secondary task had larger effects when the CBT was administered by automatically illuminating the blocks. Finally, a visual secondary task had larger effects on a two-dimensional, computerized version of the CBT. These findings suggest that memory for movements plays a relevant role in the CBT, and are especially relevant due to their implications for assessment of brain-damaged patients, besides providing further evidence of a fractionation of visuospatial memory into multiple subcomponents.

When visual stimulation of the surrounding environment affects children's cognitive performance.

Visual distraction is widely studied in children, particularly in visuospatial cognitive tasks. In these studies, targets and distractors are usually shown in the same display (e.g., the computer screen). However, children are constantly exposed to visually enriched environments (e.g., elementary school classrooms), and little is known about their influence on children's cognition. Although the importance of the surrounding environment is well recognized in the literature, few experimental studies have explored this question. We propose an alternative paradigm to study visual distraction in children that brings together the rigor of experimental psychology and more ecological validity on the exposure to potential environmental distractors. Our study was designed to investigate whether a high-load versus low-load visual surrounding environment influences children's cognitive performance as evaluated by four different cognitive tasks. A sample of 64 children (aged 8-12 years) completed two sessions in two environmental conditions: a high-load visual surrounding environment and a low-load environment. In each session, they performed visuospatial attention and memory tasks. Overall, the results suggested that the high-load visual environment affected children's cognitive performance given that children performed better in the low-load visual environment (e.g., higher percentage of hits, higher Corsi span). Understanding the impact that a visually rich surrounding environment has on children's cognitive processes that support more complex ones is important to support recommendations on how the environment should be organized to foster better daily activities.

The role of attention in remembering important item-location associations.

When encountering an excess of information, people are able to selectively remember high-value information by strategically allocating attention during the encoding period, termed value-directed remembering. This has been demonstrated in both the episodic verbal and visuospatial memory domains. Importantly, the allocation of attention also plays a crucial role in the binding of identity and location information in visuospatial memory. We examined how taxing attentional resources to various degrees during encoding might affect visuospatial memory and selectivity. Participants studied items paired with point values indicating their value in a grid display and were asked to maximize their point score (a summation of the points associated with correctly remembered information). Participants viewed items under either a sequential or simultaneous presentation format and in either the presence or absence of a secondary tone discrimination task. While participants in the divided attention conditions recalled fewer item-location associations overall, participants in all encoding conditions prioritized high-value information in memory, providing further evidence that selectivity can be maintained even when attentional resources are taxed. However, differences between presentation formats emerged when conducting spatial resolution analyses examining errors. Errors in the simultaneous conditions were only influenced by item value when attention was full during encoding, while errors in the sequential conditions were not influenced by item value, regardless of available attentional resources. The results suggest participants can strategically allocate attention during encoding even under cognitively-demanding conditions and that gist-based visuospatial memory may only be influenced by information importance when adequate attentional resources are available.

The Association of Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism With Cognitive Performance in Nondemented Polish Adults Aged 55 to 75.

The ε4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is known as a risk factor for dementia. How APOE ε polymorphism affects cognitive performance in nondemented aging subjects remains less clear. In this study, the relationship between APOE status and cognitive performance across various cognitive domains in adults aged 55 to 75 years ( n = 74) without dementia was investigated. E4 carriers ( n = 11) performed worse versus noncarriers on forward Digit Span and delayed recall of the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure. General linear model analysis revealed a small but significant main effect of ε4 on Rey-Osterrieth complex figure delayed recall. Comparing ε2 carriers, ε3 homozygotes, and ε4 carriers, ε3/ε3 performed significantly better on Trail Making Test part B and derived score Trail Making Test B-A. The findings support the relation between the APOE ε polymorphism and visual memory, short-term auditory memory, visuospatial attention, and executive functions in an aging sample without dementia.