Improvement of Episodic Memory in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Older Adults: Evidence from a Cognitive Intervention Program

Abstract

The efficacy of cognitive training was assessed in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and persons with normal cognitive aging. Forty-seven participants were included in this study: 28 with MCI and 17 controls. Twenty-one participants received intervention (20 MCI and 9 controls) and 16 participants (8 MCI and 8 controls) received no intervention (waiting-list group). The intervention focused on teaching episodic memory strategies. Three tasks of episodic memory (list recall, face-name association, text memory) were used as primary outcome measures. Results were analyzed using analyses of variance. The intervention effect (pre- and post-intervention difference) was significant on two of the primary outcome measures (delayed list recall and face-name association). A significant pre-post-effect was also found on measures of subjective memory and well-being. There was no improvement in the performance of groups of individuals with MCI and normal elderly persons who did not receive the intervention. These results suggest that persons with MCI can improve their performance on episodic memory when provided with cognitive training.

Face–name learning in older adults: a benefit of hyper-binding

“…To date, most interventions aimed at improving face-name memory in older adults have focused on training explicit memory strategies (Hampstead et al, 2008) and imagery (Belleville et al, 2006). Extrapolating from the current results, future interventions may capitalize on older adults' natural tendency to tacitly rely on incidentally encoded information at retrieval (Biss, Ngo, et al, 2013).…”

Effect of memory impairment on training outcomes in ACTIVE

“…A clinical trial of memory training in 19 MCI patients did not show a positive effect of training at immediate post-test or six month follow-up (only 1 of 16 comparisons were significant; (Rapp et al, 2002). In another study that included mnemonic training techniques similar to those used in ACTIVE (e.g., imagery, organization, method of loci) that were imbedded within dual-task attention training, MCI adults benefited from training on some immediate post-test measures of face-name associations but not on measures of paragraph recall or immediate word list recall (Belleville et al, 2006). Although the Belleville et al study had a small sample size (20 MCI subjects and 9 controls), their results suggest that to improve memory function in MCI patients, a more multi-factorial approach than the ACTIVE training may be required.…”

An efficacy evaluation of the cognitive intervention services for the aging seniors

“…Belleville performed episodic memory training for MCI patients, including list recall, face-name memory strategies, and text memory. The results showed that memory capacity of patients with MCI were significantly improved [5].…”