Subjective memory and strategy use in mild cognitive impairment and healthy aging.

Abstract

Limited information is available about subjective memory and strategy use in seniors with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We investigated whether differences exist in the perception of changes in memory, perceived frequency of forgetting, overall memory evaluation, and strategy use between seniors with MCI and unimpaired older adults. The study included 56 participants, aged 60 years and older, including 28 normal controls (NC) and 28 MCI patients. The participants completed the Short Cognitive Performance Test, the Story and Grocery list recall tasks, the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, the Memory Complaint Questionnaire for the perception of changes in episodic memory, the McNair Frequency of Forgetting Questionnaire, and a single question that evaluated overall memory. The Bousfield semantic clustering measure was calculated to assess semantic clustering for list recall. The number of underlined words during story encoding was calculated to assess strategy use. Participants with MCI had significantly worse scores on Story and Grocery list recall, semantic clustering, and overall memory evaluation. No differences were found in the number of underlined words. List recall was significantly correlated with semantic clustering in both groups (NC: r = .58, p = .001; MCI: r = .57, p = .002). Participants with MCI appeared to be less efficacious when using memory strategies, which may be associated with poor memory performance.

Relationship of cognitive strategy use to prospective memory performance in a diverse sample of nondemented older adults with varying degrees of cognitive complaints and impairment

“…With regard to MCI, others have found significant differences between cognitively intact older adults and those with MCI in cognitive strategy use, with MCI actually utilizing fewer strategies (Brum et al, 2013; Delprado et al, 2013; Hutchens et al, 2013, 2012) or self-reporting lower utilization (Delprado et al, 2013; Dixon & de Frias, 2007). In our sample, the MCI group used memory strategies at statistically comparable levels to HC even though their PM task performance was significantly poorer on all RPA-ProMem subtests.…”

“…Notably, those with MCI reported using the strategy of asking someone else to remind them of the PM tasks more frequently than the older adult HC, which may not be the most reliable method since those being counted on for reminders could experience PM failures of their own (Delprado et al, 2013). In another study, older adults with MCI were compared to elderly HC on two episodic memory tests of story and grocery list recall (Brum, Yassuda, & Forlenza, 2013). Participants were permitted to use the mnemonic strategy of underlining important ideas for the story recall task, and a semantic clustering index was derived for the grocery list task.…”

Instruments of Active Search and Assessment of Memory Complaint. A Systematic Review

“…Within the HOS group MC severity was related only to affective variables, whilst in the MCI group it was related only to age. As in Buckley et al [31] the authors Brum et al [20] investigated general memory assessment and strategy use among MCI older adults using MAC-Q and McNair Frequency of Forgetting Questionnaire instruments. The MCI participants did not report greater change and forgetting frequencies perception.…”

“…The instrument punctuation score ranges from 0 to 45 points, with higher scores indicating more frequent memory complaints or forgotten items. None of the studies presented a cut point for the frequency of forgotten items, which would be an indication of clinically significant memory deficits [20].…”

Evaluating subjective cognitive decline: a systematic review of tools available for evaluating cognitive complaints in Portuguese

“…Complaint Questionnaire (MAC-Q 19,20,21,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35 ): This questionnaire uses a 5-item Likert scale from "much better now"=1 to "much worse now"=5, and the last question scores double. The scores can range from 7 to 35 points.…”