Associative memory in aging: the effect of unitization on source memory.

In normal aging, memory for associations declines more than memory for individual items. Unitization is an encoding process defined by creation of a new single entity to represent a new arbitrary association. The current study tested the hypothesis that age-related differences in associative memory can be reduced by encoding instructions that promote unitization. In two experiments, groups of 20 young and 20 older participants learned new associations between a word and a background color under two conditions. In the item detail condition, they had to imagine that the item is the same color as the background-an instruction promoting unitization of the associations. In the context detail condition, which did not promote unitization, they had to imagine that the item interacted with another colored object. At test, they had to retrieve the color that was associated with each word (source memory). In both experiments, the results showed an age-related decrement in source memory performance in the context detail but not in the item detail condition. Moreover, Experiment 2 examined receiver operating characteristics in older participants and indicated that familiarity contributed more to source memory performance in the item detail than in the context detail condition. These findings suggest that unitization of new associations can overcome the associative memory deficit observed in aging, at least for item-color associations.

[1]  David I. Donaldson,et al.  Electrophysiological evidence for the effect of interactive imagery on episodic memory: Encouraging familiarity for non-unitized stimuli during associative recognition , 2008, NeuroImage.

[2]  Morris Moscovitch,et al.  Age-related Deficits in Associative Memory: the Influence of Impaired Strategic Retrieval Binding Hypothesis and Retrieval Failure , 2022 .

[3]  M. Naveh-Benjamin Adult age differences in memory performance: tests of an associative deficit hypothesis. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[4]  V. Leirer,et al.  Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. , 1982, Journal of psychiatric research.

[5]  Andrew P. Yonelinas,et al.  Medial Temporal Lobe Activity during Source Retrieval Reflects Information Type, not Memory Strength , 2010, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[6]  Colleen M. Parks,et al.  Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) in recognition memory: a review. , 2007, Psychological bulletin.

[7]  Lila Davachi,et al.  Object Unitization and Associative Memory Formation Are Supported by Distinct Brain Regions , 2010, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[8]  A. Yonelinas The Nature of Recollection and Familiarity: A Review of 30 Years of Research , 2002 .

[9]  K. Giovanello,et al.  Differential age effects for implicit and explicit conceptual associative memory. , 2010, Psychology and aging.

[10]  T. Salthouse Aging and measures of processing speed , 2000, Biological Psychology.

[11]  M. Naveh-Benjamin,et al.  The associative memory deficit of older adults: the role of strategy utilization. , 2007, Psychology and aging.

[12]  J. Rankin,et al.  Adult age differences in memory elaboration. , 1985, Journal of gerontology.

[13]  A P Yonelinas,et al.  Recognition memory for faces: When familiarity supports associative recognition judgments , 1999, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[14]  David I. Donaldson,et al.  Characterizing Episodic Memory Retrieval: Electrophysiological Evidence for Diminished Familiarity following Unitization , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[15]  K. Norman,et al.  Effect of unitization on associative recognition in amnesia , 2007, Hippocampus.

[16]  F. Craik,et al.  Divided attention in younger and older adults: effects of strategy and relatedness on memory performance and secondary task costs. , 2005, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[17]  Yee Lee Shing,et al.  Adult age differences in memory for name–face associations: The effects of intentional and incidental learning , 2009, Memory.

[18]  M. Naveh-Benjamin,et al.  Differential effects of age on item and associative measures of memory: a meta-analysis. , 2008, Psychology and aging.

[19]  Rachel A Diana,et al.  The effects of unitization on familiarity-based source memory: testing a behavioral prediction derived from neuroimaging data. , 2008, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[20]  M. Naveh-Benjamin,et al.  Journal of Experimental Psychology : Learning , Memory , and Cognition The Effects of Pure Pair Repetition on Younger and Older Adults ' Associative Memory , 2011 .

[21]  A. Yonelinas Receiver-operating characteristics in recognition memory: evidence for a dual-process model. , 1994, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[22]  M. Naveh-Benjamin,et al.  Adult age differences in episodic memory: further support for an associative-deficit hypothesis. , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[23]  H. Abdi,et al.  Component structure of individual differences in true and false recognition of faces. , 2009, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[24]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Reduced Specificity of Hippocampal and Posterior Ventrolateral Prefrontal Activity during Relational Retrieval in Normal Aging , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[25]  M. Kliegel,et al.  Associative Recognition Memory for Faces: More Pronounced Age-Related Impairments in Binding Intra- than Inter-Item Associations , 2010, Experimental aging research.

[26]  E. Maylor,et al.  Integrative and semantic relations equally alleviate age-related associative memory deficits. , 2012, Psychology and aging.

[27]  M. Yamada,et al.  [Dementia rating scale]. , 1997, Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine.

[28]  Robert T. Knight,et al.  Effects of extensive temporal lobe damage or mild hypoxia on recollection and familiarity , 2002, Nature Neuroscience.

[29]  Roberto Cabeza,et al.  Effects of healthy aging on hippocampal and rhinal memory functions: an event-related fMRI study. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[30]  Michael W Weiner,et al.  Memory in the aging brain: Doubly dissociating the contribution of the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex , 2007, Hippocampus.

[31]  J. Bartlett,et al.  Cognitive mechanisms of false facial recognition in older adults. , 2012, Psychology and aging.

[32]  Patric Meyer,et al.  Recognition memory for one-trial-unitized word pairs: Evidence from event-related potentials , 2010, NeuroImage.

[33]  Marcia K. Johnson,et al.  Feature memory and binding in young and older adults , 1996, Memory & cognition.

[34]  L. Light,et al.  Discriminating Semantic from Episodic Relatedness in Young and Older Adults , 2009, Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition.

[35]  Andrew P. Yonelinas,et al.  Perirhinal Cortex Supports Encoding and Familiarity-Based Recognition of Novel Associations , 2008, Neuron.

[36]  Cheryl L. Dahle,et al.  Regional brain changes in aging healthy adults: general trends, individual differences and modifiers. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[37]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Unitization and grouping mediate dissociations in memory for new , 1989 .