The effect of interference on temporal order memory in individuals with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Memory for the temporal order of items or events in a sequence has been shown to be impaired in older adults and individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The present study examined the effects of high and low interference on temporal order memory in individuals diagnosed with PD (n = 20) and demographically similar healthy older adults (n = 20) utilizing a computerized task used in previously published studies. During the sample phase of each trial, a series of eight circles were randomly presented one at a time in eight different spatial locations. Participants were instructed to remember the sequence in which the circles appeared in the locations. During the choice phase, participants were presented with two circles in two different locations and were asked to indicate which circle appeared earliest in the sample phase sequence. The two circles were separated by one of four possible temporal separation lags (0, 2, 4, and 6), defined as the number of circles occurring in the sample phase sequence between the two choice phase circles. Shorter temporal lags (e.g., 0 and 2 lags) were hypothesized to result in higher interference compared to longer temporal lags (e.g., 4 and 6 lags). The results demonstrated that on trials involving high interference, no differences were found between the two groups. However, healthy older adults significantly outperformed individuals with PD (p < .05) on trials involving low interference. Although differences were found between the PD and healthy older adult groups, both groups significantly improved on low interference trials compared to high interference trials (p < .001). The findings indicate that temporal order memory improves in healthy older adults and individuals with PD when interference is reduced. However, individuals with PD demonstrated poorer temporal order memory even with less interference. Therefore, temporal order memory is differentially affected by interference in healthy older adults and individuals with PD. Given that both groups did improve with lessened interference, behavioral interventions that minimize temporal interference potentially could improve memory function in older adults and to a lesser extent in individuals with PD.

Impaired spatial pattern separation performance in temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with visuospatial memory deficits and hippocampal volume loss

“…It is of interest that only the TLE group seemed to rely partially on spatial working memory abilities to complete the task. Previous studies have shown an association between poorer spatial working memory and poorer pattern separation performance under high levels of interference in older adults (DeFord, et al, 2016). Notably, although there were trends between pattern separation performance and a test of basic visuospatial processing, these associations were not significant, therefore, visuospatial processing was not driving pattern separation performance.…”

Multimethod assessment of everyday functioning and memory abilities in Parkinson’s disease.

“…Prospective memory deficits have been consistently reported in PD without dementia and may be attributable to associated frontal system dysfunction (Costa, Peppe, Caltagirone, & Carlesimo, 2008, 2013; Foster, McDaniel, Repovš, & Hershey, 2009; Ramanan & Kumar, 2013). There is also evidence of poorer temporal order memory (e.g., sequence of events or activities) and content memory (e.g., the actual event or activity) performances in nondemented PD compared to healthy controls (DeFord et al, 2016; McAlister & Schmitter-Edgecombe, 2016). Temporal ordering, or the ability to plan and execute a sequence of steps, is important for performing daily activities.…”