Differential association of left and right hippocampal volumes with verbal episodic and spatial memory in older adults

Abstract

The hippocampus plays a critical role in verbal and spatial memory, thus any pathological damage to this formation may lead to cognitive impairment. It is suggested that right and left hippocampi are affected differentially in healthy or pathologic aging. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that verbal episodic memory performance is associated with left hippocampal volume (HV) while spatial memory is associated with right HV. 115 non-demented adults over age 70 were drawn from the Einstein Aging Study. Verbal memory was measured using the free recall score from the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test – immediate recall (FCSRT-IR), logical memory immediate and delayed subtests (LM-I and LM-II) from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Spatial Memory was measured using a computerized dot memory paradigm that has been validated for use in older adults. All participants underwent 3T MRI with subsequent automatized measurement of the volume of each hippocampus. The sample had a mean age of 78.7 years (SD=5.0); 57% were women, and 52% were white. Participants had a mean of 14.3 years (SD=3.5) of education. In regression models, two tests of verbal memory (FCSRT-IR free recall and LM-II) were positively associated with left HV, but not with right HV. Performance on the spatial memory task was associated with right HV, but not left HV. Our findings support the hypothesis that the left hippocampus plays a critical role in episodic verbal memory, while right hippocampus might be more important for spatial memory processing among non-demented older adults.

Association between delayed recall and T2* relaxation time of the subiculum in adolescents: Implications for ultra‐high‐field magnetic resonance imaging

“…Prior volumetric and functional neuroimaging studies revealed that the hippocampus was structurally and functionally asymmetric, suggesting that the left and right hippocampi are involved in qualitatively different aspects of memory formation. The right hippocampus is thought to be involved in processing of spatial memory, and the left hippocampus in the processing of verbal memory . Our current study supports the idea that the right hippocampus is involved in visuospatial memory.…”

Neuroanatomical Comparison of the “Word” and “Picture” Versions of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Indeed, involvement of the hippocampus is a hallmark feature of AD and is considered to underlie the predominant amnesic syndrome [49]. Furthermore, previous studies reported correlation between scores of FCSRT free recall and atrophy in the left hippocampus and parahippocampus in AD and MCI subjects [19,20,22]. This finding is concordant with a recent study reporting that either the Rey Complex Figure delayed recall and the FCSRT delayed Recall, visual and a verbal episodic memory tests, are associated with total hippocampal volume in cognitively normal older adults [47].…”

“…Furthermore, structural neuroimaging studies with the FCSRT Word version have exhibited an association between free recall and hippocampal volume measured with MRI-based volumetry in AD and MCI patients [18][19][20]. Free recall of the Picture version has been associated with left and right hippocampal volume, although the association was either stronger for left hippocampal, or only reported for the left hippocampal volume in AD patients and non-demented elderly people [21,22]. Recall of the spatial localization of items has been associated with bilateral hippocampal volumes, although somewhat stronger with the right hippocampal volume in AD patients [21].…”

Sex Matters: Hippocampal Volume Predicts Individual Differences in Associative Memory in Cognitively Normal Older Women but Not Men

“…The inconsistent findings may be associated with methodological differences between studies, such as variations in test formats, volumetric procedures, and analytical strategies (Kaup et al, 2011; Ezzati et al, 2016). For example, in the present study, we used a cued-recall paired-associative learning task, which was more likely to recruit the hippocampus than an associative recognition task used in Becker et al (2015), to measure older individuals’ associative memory performance (Caplan and Madan, 2016).…”