Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Study Finds Memory Less Efficient Very Early in
Alzheimers; Suggests Training Can Help
When learning new things, people with early
symptoms find it harder to separate what's important from what's not
May 4, 2009 - Even very early in Alzheimer's
disease, people become less efficient at separating important from less
important information, a new study has found. Knowing this, clinicians
may be able to train people in the early stages of Alzheimer's to
remember high-value information better.
Remembering what's most important is central to
daily life. For example, if you went to the grocery store but left your
shopping list at home, you'd at least want to remember the milk and
bread, if not the jam. Or, when packing for a trip, you'd want to
remember your wallet and tickets more than your slippers or belt.
Participants in the study, published in the May
issue of Neuropsychology, were recruited from the Washington
University in St. Louis Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. The
magazine is published the American Psychological Association
They included:
> 109 healthy older adults (average age
of almost 75),
> 41 people with very mild (very early) Alzheimer's disease
(average age of almost 76),
> 13 people with mild (early) Alzheimer's
(average age of almost 77), and
> 35 younger adults (all 25 or under,
average age of almost 20).
The researchers asked participants to study and
learn neutral words that were randomly assigned different point values.
When asked to recall the items, participants were asked to maximize the
total value.
All participants, even those with Alzheimer's,
recalled more high-value than low-value items. However, the Alzheimer's
groups were significantly less efficient than their healthy age peers at
remembering items according to their value.
It meant they no longer maximized learning and
memory, which in healthy people are fairly efficient processes.
The authors speculated that Alzheimer's disease
makes it harder for people to encode what they learn in a strategic way.
Because encoding is the first step in long-term memory, this affects
their ability to remember things according to their value.
The findings also demonstrate that value-directed
learning stays intact in healthy aging. Older adults might not remember
as much as younger adults, but when healthy, they remain able to
distinguish what's important.
This research, the authors say, suggests the
potential for improved memory training. People with early-stage
Alzheimer's might remember important information better by learning to
be more strategic and selective when encoding high-value information,
even though it comes at the expense of neglecting less-important
information, the authors said.
Notes:
Article: "Memory Efficiency and the Strategic
Control of Attention at Encoding: Impairments of Value-Directed
Remembering in Alzheimer's Disease," Alan D. Castel, PhD, University of
California, Los Angeles; David A. Balota, PhD, Washington University in
St. Louis; and David P. McCabe, PhD, Colorado State University;
Neuropsychology, Vol. 23, No. 3.
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