Improving specific autobiographical memory in older adults: impacts on mood, social problem solving, and functional limitations

Age-related impairment in fear memory extinction is restored by ketamine in middle-aged mice

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disabling and chronic condition after exposure to an extreme traumatic event, affects approximately 8% of the population worldwide. However, the underlying mechanisms of PTSD are not clear. The ability to manage fear memories is critical for PTSD. Differences in stress responsiveness and coping strategies by age represent an important starting point for the understanding and prevention of PTSD. However, we do not know whether the ability to cope with fear memories is decreased in middle-aged mice. To investigate this, we compared fear memory extinction among different age groups of mice. We found that middle-aged mice exhibited impaired fear memory extinction, which was accompanied by sustained enhanced long-term potentiation (LTP) induction in the extinction process. Most interestingly, ketamine treatment restored the impaired fear memory extinction in middle-aged mice. Moreover, ketamine could ameliorate the increased LTP during the extinction process through a presynaptic mechanism. Altogether, our results indicated that middle-aged mice were unable to extinguish fear memories, which could be treated with ketamine via presynaptic-mediated synaptic plasticity in middle-aged mice, suggesting that ketamine administration may be a new strategy for the treatment of PTSD.

Effects of reminiscence therapy combined with memory specificity training (RT-MeST) on depressive symptoms in older adults: a randomized controlled trial protocol

BACKGROUND

Geriatric depression has become a serious public health problem, and reduced autobiographical memory and increased overgeneral memory, as the main cognitive markers of depression, are not only associated with current depressive symptoms but also associated with the onset and course of depression, which can lead to a range of harms. Economic and effective psychological interventions are urgently needed. The aim of this study is to confirm the effectiveness of reminiscence therapy combined with memory specificity training in improving autobiographical memory and depressive symptoms in older adults.

METHODS

In this multicentre, single-blind, three-arm parallel randomized controlled study, we aim to enrol 78 older adults aged 65 years or older with a score of ≥ 11 on the Geriatric Depression Scale, and participants will be randomly assigned to either a reminiscence therapy group, a reminiscence therapy with memory specificity training group or a usual care group. Assessments will be conducted at baseline (T0) as well as immediately post-intervention (T1) and 1 (T2), 3 (T3) and 6 (T4) months post-intervention. The primary outcome measure is self-reported depressive symptoms, measured using the GDS. Secondary outcome measures include measures of autobiographical memory, rumination, and social engagement.

DISCUSSION

We believe that the intervention will play a positive role in improving autobiographical memory and depressive symptoms in older adults. Poor autobiographical memory is a predictor of depression and a major cognitive marker, and improving autobiographical memory is of great significance in alleviating depressive symptoms in older people. If our program is effective, it will provide a convenient and feasible strategy for further promoting healthy ageing.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ChiCTR2200065446.

Effects of saccadic eye movements on episodic & semantic memory fluency in older and younger participants

Research has demonstrated that performing a sequence of saccadic horizontal eye movements prior to retrieval facilitates performance on tests of episodic memory. This has been observed in both laboratory tasks of retention and autobiographical memory. To date, the work has centred on performance in younger individuals. This paper extends previous investigations by examining the effects of saccadic eye movements in older persons. Autobiographical episodic and semantic memory fluency was assessed in younger (age range 18-35, mean = 22.50), and older (age range 55-87, mean = 70.35) participants following saccadic (vs. fixation control) manipulations. The main effects of eye movements and age were found for episodic autobiographical memory (greater fluency after eye movements and in younger participants). Semantic autobiographical memory showed a main effect of age (greater fluency in younger participants), whereas general semantic memory showed no effect of age or eye movement. These findings indicate that saccadic horizontal eye movements can enhance episodic personal memory in older individuals. This has implications as a technique to improve autobiographical recollection in the elderly and as an adjunct in reminiscence therapy.

Electroencephalogram signals emotion recognition based on convolutional neural network-recurrent neural network framework with channel-temporal attention mechanism for older adults

Reminiscence and conversation between older adults and younger volunteers using past photographs are very effective in improving the emotional state of older adults and alleviating depression. However, we need to evaluate the emotional state of the older adult while conversing on the past photographs. While electroencephalogram (EEG) has a significantly stronger association with emotion than other physiological signals, the challenge is to eliminate muscle artifacts in the EEG during speech as well as to reduce the number of dry electrodes to improve user comfort while maintaining high emotion recognition accuracy. Therefore, we proposed the CTA-CNN-Bi-LSTM emotion recognition framework. EEG signals of eight channels (P3, P4, F3, F4, F7, F8, T7, and T8) were first implemented in the MEMD-CCA method on three brain regions separately (Frontal, Temporal, Parietal) to remove the muscle artifacts then were fed into the Channel-Temporal attention module to get the weights of channels and temporal points most relevant to the positive, negative and neutral emotions to recode the EEG data. A Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) module then extracted the spatial information in the new EEG data to obtain the spatial feature maps which were then sequentially inputted into a Bi-LSTM module to learn the bi-directional temporal information for emotion recognition. Finally, we designed four group experiments to demonstrate that the proposed CTA-CNN-Bi-LSTM framework outperforms the previous works. And the highest average recognition accuracy of the positive, negative, and neutral emotions achieved 98.75%.

The effect of individual reminiscence therapy on adaptation difficulties of the elderly: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Reminiscence therapy is one of various interventions that can be made to protect and improve the mental health of the elderly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of individual reminiscence therapy given during home visits on adaptation difficulties.

METHOD

This was a randomized controlled, single-blind study designed with a pretest-post-test and follow-up pattern. We divided the participants, 65 elderly people living in Isparta, Turkey, by simple randomization into intervention (31) and control (34) groups. Individual reminiscence therapy was applied to the intervention group participants for eight weeks during house visits once a week. The weekly topics of the reminiscence therapy included childhood, business life, married life, old items, holidays, traditional dishes, and songs and movies, and were all culture-specific. No intervention was applied to the control group. Study data were collected by using a Sociodemographic Data Form created by the researchers, the Assessment Scale of Adaptation Difficulty for the Elderly (ASADE), and the Nurses' Observation Scale for Geriatric Patients (NOSGER). Pretest, post-test, and follow-up data were collected at the individuals' homes in face-to-face interviews.

RESULTS

After the eight-week course of reminiscence therapy, there was a significant decrease in the ASADE mean score for the intervention group (P = 0.003) and a significant increase for the control group (P < 0.001). Significant increases were also found in the mean NOSGER scores for the intervention (P = 0.039) and control (P < 0.001) groups; however, the score increase was higher for the control than for the intervention group. Also, there was a significant difference in the ASADE (P < 0,001) and NOSGER (P = 0.01) mean scores of the intervention and control groups.

CONCLUSION

This study found that individual reminiscence therapy decreased adaptation difficulties in the elderly.

The impact of the narrative mindset on effectivity in social problem solving

The narrative mindset is a tendency to interpret social information in the frame of stories. Two experiments were conducted to determine if and why the narrative mindset increases social problem-solving effectivity. The experiments consisted of two parts: the experimental manipulation (inducing the narrative mindset or control condition) and the observation of effects. In the second part, presented as a separate study, a participant was asked to advise other people facing interpersonal problems (experiment 1) or emotional problems (experiment 2). Three pairs of coders judged each piece of advice independently on three scales: Effectivity of the advice, empathy, and personalization (using their own experiences in providing the advice). The results indicate that the narrative mindset increases empathy, supported by the co-occurring increase in the problem's personalization, which leads to higher effectivity. The results reveal the positive real-life implications of structuring social information within a story frame. It may encourage the introduction of the narrative mindset effects into an area of social cognition research. Finally, the experiments show that the narrative mindset may be activated experimentally, providing an effective instrument to test the impact of narrative knowledge on social cognition.

A multi-method comparison of autobiographical memory impairments amongst younger and older adults

Objectives: Research indicates that, compared to younger adults, older adults have difficulty recalling memories of specific past events (those lasting less than 24 h) and this difficulty is associated with depression. These studies are largely confined to a single measure of specific memory recall and there are conflicting findings when alternative measures are used. This investigation provides the first comparison of memory specificity between younger and older adults using several different measures.Method: Older (n = 105) and younger (n = 88) adults completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT), Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and Sentence Completion for Events from the Past Test (SCEPT) and the number of specific memories was quantified for each measure. Participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory Version II (BDI-II).Results: Compared to younger adults, older adults recalled fewer specific memories in the AMT and more specific memories in the AMI. This latter effect was particularly pronounced for memories related to childhood. There was no group difference in responses in the SCEPT. There was no evidence of an association between memory specificity and depression for any of the measures.Conclusion: Older adults have difficulty retrieving specific memories after cuing by nouns and adjectives, as in the AMT, but they have enhanced recall of specific memories after cuing by life periods, as in the AMI, and this is particularly true of memories related to childhood. Individual differences in memory specificity are not related to depression symptoms in healthy samples.

Specific Autobiographical Recall Mediates Impact of Cognition and Depression on Independence Function and Well-Being in Older Adults

Autobiographical memory specificity has been associated with cognitive function, depression, and independence in older adults. This longitudinal study of 162 older adults moving to active supported living environments tracks changes in the role of the ability to recall specific autobiographical memory as a mediator between underlying cognitive function, or depression, and outcome perceived health or independence (e.g., Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, IADLs), across 18 months, as compared with controls not moving home. Clear improvements across time in autobiographical specificity were seen for residents but not controls, supporting the role of a socially active environment, and confirmed by correlation with number of activities reported in diaries, although the impact of diary activities on the effect of time on autobiographical specificity was not found. The role of autobiographical specificity in mediating general cognition and outcome functional limitations was clear for social limitations at 12 and 18 months, but its role in mediating effects of executive function and perceived health persisted throughout. The role of specificity in mediating between depression and perceived health, IADLs, and Functional Limitations persisted throughout. Analysis examining autobiographical specificity and depression as joint mediators between cognition and independence showed a forward effect such that higher specificity scores reduced the negative mediation effect of depression on independence. Finally, data showed the reduction of many of these mediations over time, supporting the role of autobiographical memory in times of change in a person's social situation. Data support potential autobiographical memory intervention development.

Comparison of Regression and Machine Learning Methods in Depression Forecasting Among Home-Based Elderly Chinese: A Community Based Study

BACKGROUND

Depression is highly prevalent and considered as the most common psychiatric disorder in home-based elderly, while study on forecasting depression risk in the elderly is still limited. In an endeavor to improve accuracy of depression forecasting, machine learning (ML) approaches have been recommended, in addition to the application of more traditional regression approaches.

METHODS

A prospective study was employed in home-based elderly Chinese, using baseline (2011) and follow-up (2013) data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a nationally representative cohort study. We compared four algorithms, including the regression-based models (logistic regression, lasso, ridge) and ML method (random forest). Model performance was assessed using repeated nested 10-fold cross-validation. As the main measure of predictive performance, we used the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

RESULTS

The mean AUCs of the four predictive models, logistic regression, lasso, ridge, and random forest, were 0.795, 0.794, 0.794, and 0.769, respectively. The main determinants were life satisfaction, self-reported memory, cognitive ability, ADL (activities of daily living) impairment, CESD-10 score. Life satisfaction increased the odds ratio of a future depression by 128.6% (logistic), 13.8% (lasso), and 13.2% (ridge), and cognitive ability was the most important predictor in random forest.

CONCLUSIONS

The three regression-based models and one ML algorithm performed equally well in differentiating between a future depression case and a non-depression case in home-based elderly. When choosing a model, different considerations, however, such as easy operating, might in some instances lead to one model being prioritized over another.

The effectiveness of reminiscence-based intervention on improving psychological well-being in cognitively intact older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Aging is one of the most important public health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) expects the number of older adults aged 65 and above to triple from 2010 to 2050. A major challenge would be to consider how functional ability and quality of life could be enhanced in older age. Reminiscence-based interventions are widely reported as having positive effects on psychological outcomes among older adults with dementia, but its effects on cognitively intact older adults have not been clearly evaluated.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the current systematic review is to evaluate the existing evidence on the effects of reminiscence-based intervention on psychological outcomes in cognitively intact older adults.

REVIEW METHODS

Commonly used English databases, including CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO, were searched from inception till 31 Mar 2020. Studies were included if they examined the effects of reminiscence-based intervention on psychological outcomes among cognitively intact older adults aged 60 and above. Meta-analysis was conducted to synthesise the effects on different psychological outcomes.

RESULTS

Thirty-one studies involving 1,829 older adults were included. The pooled standardized mean difference for depressive symptoms and life satisfaction were -0.38 (95% CI: -0.69--0.07) and 0.33 (95% CI: 0.14-0.52) respectively. Positive effects were observed on self-esteem, psychological well-being and happiness, though meta-analysis could not be conducted.

CONCLUSION

Significant reduction of depressive symptoms and improvement of life satisfaction were revealed from the reminiscence-based intervention among cognitively intact older adults. In addition, reminiscence-based intervention has been effective in enhancing self-esteem, and promoting psychological well-being and happiness. Our results suggest that reminiscence-based intervention could be an effective solution to improve psychological well-being among cognitively intact older adults. Such non-pharmacological approach can be recommended for older adults at the community level.

Effectiveness of the level of personal relevance of visual autobiographical stimuli in the induction of positive emotions in young and older adults: pilot study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The ability to retrieve specific memories is a cognitive and emotional protective factor. Among the most effective techniques to generate autobiographical memories is the use of audio-visual stimuli, particularly images. Developing and improving techniques that facilitate the generation of such memories could be highly effective in the prevention of depressive symptoms, especially in the elderly population. The aim of the present study is to examine how the level of personal relevance of pictures as autobiographical memory cues to induce positive emotions may affect an individual's emotion regulation.

METHODS

The participants, 120 older adults aged 65 and over and 120 young adults aged between 18 and 35, of both sexes and without depressive symptoms, will be induced to a negative mood state by means of viewing a film clip. Following the negative mood induction, the participants will be shown positive images according to experimental group to which they were randomly assigned (high personal relevance: personal autobiographical photographs; medium personal relevance: pictures of favourite locations associated with specific positive autobiographical memories; and low personal relevance: positive images from the International Affective Picture System). We will analyse the differences in subjective (responses to questionnaires) and objectives measures (EEG signal, heart rate variability and electrodermal activity) between the groups before and after the induction of negative affect and following the recall of positive memories.

DISCUSSION

The use of images associated with specific positive autobiographical memories may be an effective input for inducing positive mood states, which has potentially important implications for their use as a cognitive behavioural technique to treat emotional disorders, such as depression, which are highly prevalent among older adults.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04251104 . Registered on 30 January 2020.

Prognostic factors for change in memory test performance after memory training in healthy older adults: a systematic review and outline of statistical challenges

BACKGROUND

The goal is to investigate prognostic factors for change in memory test performance in healthy older adults and to report and discuss the different statistical procedures used for investigating this topic in the literature.

METHODS

Prognostic factors were here understood as any measures that were investigated to estimate change in memory test performance. MEDLINE, Web of Science Core Collection, CENTRAL, and PsycInfo were searched up to November 2019. Prognostic factor and prognostic factor finding studies investigating prognostic factors on verbal and non-verbal short- and long-term memory after conducting memory training in healthy older adults were included. Risk of bias was assessed using the QUIPS tool.

RESULTS

Our search yielded 12,974 results. We included 29 studies that address prognostic factors of change in memory test performance, including sociodemographic, (neuro-)psychological, genetic, and biological parameters. Studies showed high variation and methodological shortcomings with regard to the assessment, statistical evaluation, and reporting of the investigated prognostic factors. Included studies used different types of dependent variables (change scores vs. post-test scores) when defining change in memory test performance leading to contradictory results. Age was the only variable investigated throughout most of the studies, showing that older adults benefit more from training when using the change score as the dependent variable.

CONCLUSION

Overall, there is a need for adequate reporting in studies of prognostic factors for change in memory test performance. Because of inconsistencies and methodological shortcomings in the literature, conclusions regarding prognostic factors remain uncertain. As a tentative conclusion, one may say that the higher the age of the participant, the more profound the improvement in memory test performance will be after memory training.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

CRD42019127479.

Remediating Reduced Autobiographical Memory in Healthy Older Adults With Computerized Memory Specificity Training (c-MeST): An Observational Before-After Study

Background

The ability to retrieve specific autobiographical memories decreases with cognitive aging. This decline is clinically relevant due to its association with impairments in problem solving, daily functioning, and depression. A therapist-delivered group training protocol, Memory Specificity Training (MeST), has been shown to enhance the retrieval of specific memories while ameliorating the impairments and negative outcomes associated with reduced specificity. The therapist-delivered nature of this intervention means it is relatively expensive to deliver and difficult for people with mobility impairments, such as older people, to receive.

Objective

The objective of this study was to test if a novel, Web-based computerized version of a group training protocol called Memory Specificity Training, has the potential to increase autobiographical memory specificity and impact associated secondary psychological processes.

Methods

A total of 21 participants (13 female; mean age 67.05, SD 6.55) who experienced a deficit in retrieving specific autobiographical memory were trained with c-MeST. We assessed memory specificity at preintervention and postintervention, as well as secondary processes such as depressive symptoms, rumination, and problem-solving skills.

Results

Memory specificity increased significantly after participants completed c-MeST (r=.57). Session-to-session scores indicated that autobiographical memory specificity improved most from the online baseline assessment to the first Web-based session. Symptoms or secondary processes such as problem-solving skills did not change significantly.

Conclusions

A Web-based automated individual version of MeST is a feasible, low-cost intervention for reduced memory specificity in healthy older adults. Future studies should clarify the preventive impact of c-MeST in other at-risk sample populations with longer follow-up times.

Not to worry: Episodic retrieval impacts emotion regulation in older adults

Interventions that increase the specificity of episodic memory and future-oriented problem solving have been shown to help both young adults and clinical populations regulate their emotions toward potential stressors. However, little is known about how episodic specificity impacts anxiety levels in older adults, who show reduced specificity of episodic memory, future simulation, and problem-solving performance. Although emotion regulation generally improves with age, older adults still experience worries pertaining to their health and interpersonal relationships. The current studies test how episodic specificity affects emotion regulation in older adults. In Experiment 1, participants received an episodic specificity induction (ESI)-brief training in recollecting details of past experiences-prior to generating steps to solve worrisome problems. Older adults provided more relevant steps and episodic details after the specificity induction relative to a control induction, but we found no difference in emotion regulation ratings between induction conditions. In Experiment 2, we contrasted performance on a personal problem-solving task (i.e., generating steps to solve one's own problems) intended to draw on episodic retrieval with an advice task focused on semantic processing (i.e., listing general advice for an acquaintance worried about similar problems). Participants provided more relevant steps and episodic details in the personal problem-solving task relative to the advice task, and boosts in detail were related to larger reductions in anxiety toward the target worrisome events. These results indicate that solving worrisome problems with greater levels of episodic detail can positively influence emotion regulation in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Age-Related Decrease in Stress Responsiveness and Proactive Coping in Male Mice

Coping is a strategic approach to dealing with stressful situations. Those who use proactive coping strategies tend to accept changes and act before changes are expected. In contrast, those who use reactive coping are less flexible and more likely to act in response to changes. However, little research has assessed how coping style changes with age. This study investigated age-related changes in coping strategies and stress responsiveness and the influence of age on the processing of conditioned fear memory in 2-, 12- and 23-month-old male mice. Coping strategy was measured by comparing the escape latency in an active avoidance test and by comparing responses to a shock prod. The results showed that proactivity in coping response gradually decreased with age. Stress responsiveness, measured by stress-induced concentration of corticosterone, was also highest in 2-month-old mice and decreased with age. Consolidation of fear memory was highest in 12-month-old mice and was negatively correlated with the degree of stress responsiveness and proactivity in coping. Fear extinction did not differ among age groups and was not correlated with stress responsiveness or the proactivity of coping. However, the maintenance of extinct fear memory, which was best in 2-month-old mice and worst in 12-month-old mice, was negatively correlated with stress responsiveness but not with coping style. Age-dependent changes in the expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and its regulatory co-chaperones, which are accepted mechanisms for stress hormone stimulation, were measured in the hippocampus. The expression of GR was increased at 12 months compared to other age groups. There were no differences in Hsp70 and BAG1 expression by age. These results can be summarized as follows: (1) stress responsiveness and proactivity in coping decreased with age class; (2) consolidation of fear memory was negatively correlated with both stress responsiveness and proactivity; however, maintenance of extinct fear memory was negatively correlated with stress responsiveness only; and (3) consolidation and maintenance of extinct fear memory appeared to be more influenced by factors other than stress reactivity and proactivity in coping, such as the amount of hippocampal glucocorticoid expression.

Memory flexibility training for autobiographical memory as an intervention for maintaining social and mental well-being in older adults

Autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) reduces with increasing age and is associated with depression, social problem-solving and functional limitations. However, ability to switch between general and specific, as well as between positive and negative retrieval, may be more important for the strategic use of autobiographical information in everyday life. Ability to switch between retrieval modes is likely to rely on aspects of executive function. We propose that age-related deficits in cognitive flexibility impair AMS, but the "positivity effect" protects positively valenced memories from impaired specificity. A training programme to improve the ability to flexibly retrieve different types of memories in depressed adults (MemFlex) was examined in non-depressed older adults to determine effects on AMS, valence and the executive functions underlying cognitive flexibility. Thirty-nine participants aged 70+ (MemFlex, n = 20; control, n = 19) took part. AMS and the inhibition aspect of executive function improved in both groups, suggesting these abilities are amenable to change, although not differentially affected by this type of training. Lower baseline inhibition scores correlated with increased negative, but not positive AMS, suggesting that positive AMS is an automatic process in older adults. Changes in AMS correlated with changes in social problem-solving, emphasising the usefulness of AMs in a social environment.