Enhancing prospective memory in mild cognitive impairment: The role of enactment

Abstract

Introduction: Prospective memory (PM) is a fundamental requirement for independent living which might be prematurely compromised in the neurodegenerative process, namely in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a typical prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD) phase. Most encoding manipulations which typically enhance learning in healthy adults are of minimal benefit to AD patients. However, there is some indication that these can display a recall advantage when encoding is accompanied by the physical enactment of the material. The aim of this study was to explore the potential benefits of enactment at encoding and cue-action relatedness on memory for intentions in MCI patients and healthy controls using a behavioural PM experimental paradigm. Method: We report findings examining the influence of enactment at encoding for PM performance in MCI patients and age and education matched controls using a laboratory based PM task with a factorial independent design. Results: PM performance was consistently superior when physical enactment was used at encoding and when target-action pairs were strongly associated. Importantly, these beneficial effects were cumulative and observable across both a healthy and a cognitively impaired lifespan as well as evident in the perceived subjective difficulty to perform the task. Conclusions:The identified beneficial effects of enacted encoding and semantic relatedness have unveiling the potential contribution of this encoding technique to optimize attentional demands through an adaptive allocation of strategic resources. We discuss our findings with respect to their potential impact on developing strategies to improve PM in AD sufferers.

Sustaining prospective memory functioning in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: A lifespan approach to the critical role of encoding.

“…In fact, we have previously explored the influence of enactment at encoding for PM performance in aMCI patients and age and education matched healthy controls. Here, PM performance was consistently superior when physical enactment was used at encoding; for both healthy and cognitively impaired participants (Pereira, et al, 2015).…”

“…Similarly, there is evidence that a strong semantic relation between the retrieval cue and the intended action might reduce the executive demands of the task by supporting retrieval in healthy young and older adults (Maylor, Smith, della Sala & Logie, 2002) as well as for participants in the early stages of cognitive impairment (Driscoll, McDaniel & Guynn, 2005). Interestingly, physical encoding and semantic relatedness seem to contribute independently and cumulatively to prospective remembering; an effect that has been identified across aging in healthy (Pereira, et al, 2012a(Pereira, et al, , 2012b and cognitively compromised adults (Pereira, et al, 2015).…”

“…Therefore, this study will focus on the potential impact of an encoding manipulation that can empower individuals to positively influence their PM performance. The current manuscript aims to extend our previous research (Pereira, et al, 2015) by exploring more thoroughly the neuropsychological bases of the enacted encoding and retrieval effect, as well as by adopting, for the first time, an all-encompassing adult lifespan approach to this effect which will be essential to genuinely understand the cognitive mechanisms involved in the rise and fall of PM.…”

“…However, so far research the phase of intention formation and the influence of relevant strategies that individuals themselves may actively use to improve their own performance has rather been neglected and there are only very few studies that have explored such strategies (cf. Altgassen, et al, 2015;Pereira, et al, 2015). Therefore, this study will focus on the potential impact of an encoding manipulation that can empower individuals to positively influence their PM performance.…”

“…Enactment might constitute an easily implementable and widely applicable encoding method to enhance PM performance across healthy and cognitively compromised adulthood (cf. Pereira, et al, 2015). In fact, we have previously explored the influence of enactment at encoding for PM performance in aMCI patients and age and education matched healthy controls.…”