Visual Memory Support: An Effective Mnemonic Device for Older Adults

Sharps, Matthew J.; Price-Sharps, Jana

doi:10.1093/geront/36.5.706

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The basic principles advanced here may be extrapolated to the creation of extremely useful and economical memory aids for the use of older adults in everyday life. The memory system developed from these principles (Sharps & Price-Sharps, 1996) is extremely effective, and constitutes both a point of support for the validity of this theoretical perspective and an immediately useful application of its extrapolation into the realm of applied psychology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Age-related change in visual information processing: Toward a unified theory of aging and visual memory

Sharps

1997

Curr Psychol

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Memory for semantic information is relatively preserved through the normal aging process. Visuospatiai memory remains less intact. In the present article a theory is proposed that links this processing difference to normal age-related generalized cognitive slowing, and to the appearance of specific age-related differences in memory performance. Evidence for these suggestions is presented from work in four areas: mental rotation, spatial memory, paired-associates learning, and free recall. Cognitive performance in young and older respondents is shown to vary predictably with systematic variation of visuospatial and semantic stimulus factors consistent with these hypotheses. A further test of these ideas derives from the development of a clinically useful mnemonic system for older adults that is based on these principles. Taken together, this research indicates that much of the deficit observed in the memory performance of older adults may derive not from memory problems per se, but rather from the action of generalized cognitive slowing, which contributes to diminished abilities to represent and process visual images. This series of findings may provide a framework for understanding a wide variety of the processes involved in aging and visual memory, and for the creation of applications to aid the memory of older adults.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The full details of this research are presented elsewhere (Sharps & Price-Sharps, 1996), but a brief synopsis is offered here. Simple but distinctive plastic plates, in colors selected to clash violently with the decor of most homes, were given to older adults in three separate experiments.…”

Section: Synthesis Of These Considerations For Clinical Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-related change in visual information processing: Toward a unified theory of aging and visual memory

Sharps

1997

Curr Psychol

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“…In particular, studies involving instruction in multiple mnemonic techniques led to lasting improvements (e.g., Stigsdotter and Bäckman, 1989; Hill et al, 1990; Ball et al, 2002; Dunlosky et al, 2003). Also, training specific strategies such as visual memory support (Sharps and Price-Sharps, 1996), the story mnemonic (Hill et al, 1991), and the classic loci method (Kliegl et al, 1989; Hill et al, 1991) gave significant results that qualified on the evidence-based criteria. Rebok et al (2007, p. 54) conclude that these findings suggest “… that there are potentially several evidence-based options for older adults who wish to improve their memory and reduce memory problems.”…”

Section: Additional Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Brain training in progress: a review of trainability in healthy seniors

Buitenweg¹,

Murre²,

Ridderinkhof³

2012

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

111

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The cognitive deterioration associated with aging is accompanied by structural alterations and loss of functionality of the frontostriatal dopamine system. The question arises how such deleterious cognitive effects could be countered. Brain training, currently highly popular among young and old alike, promises that users will improve on certain neurocognitive skills, and this has indeed been confirmed in a number of studies. Based on these results, it seems reasonable to expect beneficial effects of brain training in the elderly as well. A selective review of the existing literature suggests, however, that the results are neither robust nor consistent, and that transfer and sustained effects thus far appear limited. Based on this review, we argue for a series of elements that hold potential for progress in successful types of brain training: (1) including flexibility and novelty as features of the training, (2) focusing on a number of promising, yet largely unexplored domains, such as decision-making and memory strategy training, and (3) tailoring the training adaptively to the level and progress of the individual. We also emphasize the need for covariance-based MRI methods in linking structural and functional changes in the aging brain to individual differences in neurocognitive efficiency and trainability in order to further uncover the underlying mechanisms.

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“…Againl no. Abundant evidence (Waddell and Rogoff, 1981;Gollin, 1987, 1988;Sharps, 1991Sharps, , 1997aCraik and Jennings, 1992;Sharps and Price-Sharps, 1996;Sharps and Antonelli, 1997) indicates that older adults can use pictorial information and item-specific detail mnemonically, if such detail is provided directly by the encoding environment. This may seem paradoxical: how can older people use pictorial detail to enhance recall if they suffer from an age-related picture-processing deficit?…”

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confidence: 99%

“…However, this age-related effect can be overwhelmed and reduced, and in some cases negated, by sources of rich pictorial detail in the external encoding environment. Under appropriate conditions, elders can readily make use of visually distinctive environmental support in a compensatory manner (Sharps and Price-Sharps, 1996). There is a trade-off between diminished abilities and support from the external world which may be used to support those abilities.…”

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confidence: 99%

Relational frameworks for recall in young and older adults

Sharps

Martin²,

Nunes³

et al. 1999

Curr Psychol

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Recent research indicates the presence of an age-related visual processing deficit, for which the elderly may attempt to compensate through the use of relational information. This hypothesis was tested, using the category superiority effect as a model system. In studies of young adults, the category superiority effect has been shown to be confined to relatively abstract stimulus materials, such as verbal items, and to be absent for pictures. However, it was predicted that a category superiority effect would be present in elderly adults both for verbal and for pictorial stimuli, since the elderly would be expected to utilize category information to compensate for imageric deficits. This prediction was confirmed, consistent with the hypothesis advanced above. It was further suggested that the establishment of a prior framework for recall, based on relational information, would reduce this effect significantly. This prediction was also confirmed.Recent research indicates the presence of an age-related diminution in the ability to process pictorial information (Sharps and Gollin, 1987a;Sharps, 1990Sharps, , 1997aDror and Kosslyn, 1994; but see also Hertzog et al., 1993). The active processing of imageric information requires the respondent to deal with numerous item-specific details, and would therefore be expected to diminish with age, since such activity involves significant mental effort and considerable reliance on self-initiated processing (Craik, 1986;Craik and Jennings, 1992). Thus it would be expected that task situations which place greater demands on imageric processing (Paivio, 1990) would be subject to the greatest age-related change. In view of these considerations, and especially in view of the demonstration of pictorial processing loss advanced by Dror and Kosslyn (1994), it seems very likely that the elderly do in fact experience relative difficulty with pictorial processing.In contrast to pictorial processing, relational processing, such as that dealing with the category structure of stimulus sets, tends to remain relatively intact through the aging process (Nebes, 1990). Within any given memory task, the elderly are probably better at using relational than pictorial information. Therefore, we would expect the use of relational information to be more reinforcing for the elderly than the use of imagery in memory.It should be noted that under specific task conditions, as will be discussed below, the elderly are capable of using pictorial, item-specific support for recall at a very high level, in spite of the suggested age-related declines in picture-processing abilities

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Visual Memory Support: An Effective Mnemonic Device for Older Adults

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Age-related change in visual information processing: Toward a unified theory of aging and visual memory

Age-related change in visual information processing: Toward a unified theory of aging and visual memory

Brain training in progress: a review of trainability in healthy seniors

Relational frameworks for recall in young and older adults

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