Factors that positively or negatively mediate the effects of age on working memory across the adult life span

Abstract

Working memory abilities significantly decrease with advancing age; hence, the search for factors that may increase or mitigate this decline is critical. Several factors have been identified that influence working memory; however, their effects have been mainly assessed separately and rarely together with other factors in the same sample. We examined 120 variables to search for factors that jointly act as mediators of working memory decay across the adult life span. A sample of 1652 healthy adults was assessed in spatial and verbal working memory domains. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to search for potential mediators that intervened between age and working memory. Only 14 and 10 variables reliably mediated spatial and verbal working memory, respectively. Factors from several domains remained in the models, such as individual characteristics, physiological traits, consumption habits, and regular activities. These factors are sufficiently powerful to influence working memory decline when they jointly interact, as in everyday living.

Important regulatory function of transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 receptors in age-related learning and memory alterations of mice

“…Investigation of the molecular background of this type of memory loss as well as the assessment of the effectiveness of different drug candidates is very complicated in rodents. Dementia occurs as a complex syndrome of cognitive, functional, and emotional alterations in humans (Ferrucci et al 2018; Cansino et al 2018); only some symptoms are reproducible in animal models (Mitchell et al 2015; Wahl et al 2017). Furthermore, the mortality, morbidity, and sensitivity to different interventions have much higher risk over 12 months in rodents (Snyder et al 2016).…”

Interleukin 6 reduces allopregnanolone synthesis in the brain and contributes to age-related cognitive decline in mice

“…Previous studies have clearly indicated that aging is the primary risk factor for cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease ( 1 – 3 ). Several factors have been implicated in cognitive decline with age, including a decrease in circulating growth factors and neurosteroids and/or an increase in inflammatory cytokines ( 4 ).…”

Predictors of Source Memory Success and Failure in Older Adults

“…Moderate alcohol consumption increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and diminished the accumulation of platelets (Arranz et al, 2012). In an adult life span sample, it was observed that beer consumption was a positive mediator of the effects of age on verbal working memory (Cansino et al, 2018b). The present outcome goes beyond these previous findings because it not only suggests that beer consumption may be beneficial for memory but also provides evidence that its consumption may be needed to avoid source memory capability loss.…”