Detection of prospective memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment of suspected Alzheimer’s disease etiology using a novel event-based prospective memory task

Abstract

We investigated the relative discriminatory efficacy of an event-based prospective memory (PM) task, in which specificity of the instructions and perceptual salience of the PM cue were manipulated, compared with two widely used retrospective memory (RM) tests (Rivermead Paragraph Recall Test and CERAD-Word List Test), when detecting mild cognitive impairment of suspected Alzheimer's disease etiology (MCI-AD) (N = 19) from normal controls (NC) (N = 21). Statistical analyses showed high discriminatory capacity of the PM task for detecting MCI-AD. The Non-Specific-Non-Salient condition proved particularly useful in detecting MCI-AD, possibly reflecting the difficulty of the task, requiring more strategic attentional resources to monitor for the PM cue. With a cutoff score of <4/10, the Non-Specific-Non-Salient condition achieved a sensitivity = 84%, and a specificity = 95%, superior to the most discriminative RM test used (CERAD-Total Learning: sensitivity = 83%; specificity = 76%). Results suggest that PM is an early sign of memory failure in MCI-AD and may be a more pronounced deficit than retrospective failure, probably reflecting the greater self-initiated retrieval demands involved in the PM task used. Limitations include the relatively small sample size, and the use of a convenience sample (i.e. memory clinic attenders and healthy active volunteers), reducing the generalizability of the results, which should be regarded as preliminary. (JINS, 2009, 15, 154-159.).

Can We Remember Future Actions yet Forget the Last Two Minutes? Study in Transient Global Amnesia

“…PM has been studied in various samples of patients with memory disorders, in particular mild cognitive impairment (Blanco-Campal, Coen, Lawlor, Walsh, & Burke, 2009;Karantzoulis, Troyer, & Rich, 2009) and Alzheimerʼs disease (Kinsella, Ong, Storey, Wallace, & Hester, 2007;Jones, Livner, & Backman, 2006). Thompson, Henry, Rendell, Withall, and Brodaty (2010), who compared these two populations, have suggested that the PM impairment in these diseases may reflect executive difficulties, rather than genuine episodic memory difficulties, as the patientsʼ performances on executive tasks were also poor and were found to be correlated with the PM task scores.…”

The Effect of Religious Priming on Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men

“…Mean scores on the RPA-ProMem in healthy older adults were previously distinguished from those with MCI and from those with SCD (after controlling for relevant covariates of education, race, and depressive symptoms) suggesting that the RPA-ProMem can discriminate among groups of older adults with different levels of cognitive deficits . This finding has notable importance considering that varying degrees of PM deficits have been identified in those with SCD, MCI, and AD (Blanco-Campal et al, 2009;Spindola & Brucki, 2011;Visser et al, 2009). Construct validity of the RPA-ProMem was previously documented in 20 healthy and 20 neurological patients (Radford et al, 2011).…”

“…Long-term PM tasks have been generally considered to be more naturalistic or "ecologically valid" because they occur in everyday contexts where the examiner has little control over distractions or intervening task demands (Rendell & Craik, 2000). Impairments in PM have been found in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to healthy older adult controls (HC; Blanco-Campal, Coen, Lawlor, Walsh, & Burke, 2009;Chi et al, 2014;Costa et al, 2010;Costa et al, 2011;Delprado et al, 2012;Kazui et al, 2005;Rabin, Chi, et al, 2014;Tam & SchmitterEdgecombe, 2013;Thompson et al, 2011;Troyer & Murphy, 2007). MCI has been considered to be a preclinical dementia condition marked by both objective and subjective memory (and possibly other cognitive) impairment with relative sparing of activities of daily living and no global cognitive decline (i.e., no dementia; Delprado et al, 2012;Mitchell, Arnold, Dawson, Nestor, & Hodges, 2009;Petersen et al, 2001;Winblad et al, 2004).…”

“…Although rates have varied from one study to another due to substantial variability in methods used to diagnose and assess MCI, some studies have reported annual conversion rates from MCI to Alzheimer's disease (AD) of 10 to 15% (Mitchell & Shiri-Feshki, 2010;Panza et al, 2005). Given that PM is impaired in older adults with MCI and mild AD (Blanco-Campal et al, 2009;Spindola & Brucki, 2011;Thompson, Henry, Rendell, Withall, & Brodaty, 2010;Troyer & Murphy, 2007;van den Berg, Kant, & Postma, 2012), assessment of PM in these individuals may enhance understanding of the cognitive changes that occur in the early stages of neurodegenerative cognitive decline and improve assessment and diagnostic approaches for preclinical dementia conditions.…”

Memória prospectiva em pacientes com comprometimento cognitivo leve

“…A memória prospectiva é definida como a habilidade de lembrar-se de iniciar e executar ações em determinado momento futuro (Kliegel et al, 2008). Dados da literatura mostram que este tipo de memória pode ser um marcador precoce de declínio cognitivo (Huppert e Bearsall, 1993;Blanco-Campal et al, 2009 (Karantzoulis et al, 2009;Thompson et al, 2010;Delprado et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2012), nos quais mostraram um comprometimento generalizado em tarefas de memória prospectiva em pacientes com CCL .…”