The purpose of this study was to investigate associative learning effects in patients with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (prAD) by referring to the Temporal Context Model (TCM; Howard, Jing, Rao, Provyn, & Datey, 2009), in an attempt to enhance the understanding of their associative memory impairment. TCM explains fundamental effects described in classical free-recall tasks and cued-recall tasks involving overlapping word pairs (e.g., A-B, B-C), namely (1) the contiguity effect, which is the tendency to successively recall nearby items in a list, and (2) the observation of backward (i.e., B-A) and transitive associations (i.e., A-C) between items. In TCM, these effects are hypothesized to rely on contextual representation, binding and retrieval processes, which supposedly depend on hippocampal and parahippocampal regions. As these regions are affected in prAD, the current study investigated whether prAD patients would show reduced proportions of backward and transitive associations in free and cued-recall, coupled to a reduced contiguity effect in free-recall. Seventeen older controls and 17 prAD patients performed a cued-recall task involving overlapping word pairs and a final free-recall task. Proportions of backward and transitive intrusions in cued-recall did not significantly differ between groups. However, in free-recall, prAD patients demonstrated a reduced contiguity effect as well as reduced proportions of backward and transitive associations compared to older controls. These findings are discussed within the hypothesis that the contextual representation, binding and/or retrieval processes are affected in prAD patients compared to healthy older individuals. (JINS, 2015, 21, 699–708)

The objective of the current study was to compare the performance of schizophrenic patients and normal controls on implicit memory tests. Two neuropsychological tasks were administered to 29 patients and normal participant samples. The implicit tests were: Word fragment completion and Word production from semantic categories. The priming score was the variable of interest. Priming effects are obtained in normal subjects and schizophrenia patients, regardless of the implicit test used. However, a dissociation in priming between normal and patient groups was observed, depending on the test used. For word fragment test, priming was identical between the two groups. However, for word production, priming obtained in schizophrenics was lower than priming in normal controls. Results confirm a dissociation effect in implicit memory tests. These results could be explained in the context of the Roediger and Blaxton (1987) distinction between data-driven and conceptually-driven processing. This evidence suggests that a complete neuropsychological assessment of memory in schizophrenia should include different kinds of implicit memory tests (procedural, perceptual, and conceptual tasks).

Background: Subjective memory complaints are a requirement in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as they are thought to indicate a decline in objective memory performance. However, recent research suggests that the relationship between subjective memory complaint and objective memory impairment is less clear. Thus, it is possible that many people without subjective memory complaints who develop Alzheimer's disease are precluded from a diagnosis of MCI.

Methods: The present study examined the relationship between subjective memory complaint assessed using the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) and objective memory impairment assessed using standard neuropsychological measures in cases of amnestic MCI (n = 48), non-amnestic MCI (n = 27), and unimpaired healthy participants (n = 64).

Results: Correlational and regression analyses indicated that subjective memory complaints displayed a poor relationship with objective memory performance. A subsequent discriminant function analysis indicated that subjective memory complaints failed to improve the diagnostic accuracy of MCI and resulted in increased rates of false negative and false positive diagnoses.

Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that a diagnostic criterion of subjective memory complaint reduces the accuracy of MCI diagnosis, resulting in an elevated rate of false positive and false negative diagnoses. The results of this study in conjunction with recent research indicate that a criterion of subjective memory complaint should be discarded from emerging diagnostic criteria for MCI.

Several authors have recently shown that anterograde amnesia is often associated with semantic memory impairment in amnesic MCI patients. Similarly, after the MCI condition, some patients who convert to Alzheimer's disease (AD) show the classic onset (cAD) characterized by the impairment of memory and executive functions, whereas other AD patients show isolated defects of episodic and semantic memory without deficits in other cognitive domains. The latter have been considered an AD variant characterized by ‘focal Temporal Lobe Dysfunction’ (TLD). The aim of the present study was to assess the differences in disease progression between cAD and TLD. For this purpose a continuous series of newly diagnosed probable AD patients presenting as cAD (n = 30) and TLD (n = 25), matched for severity, and 65 healthy controls underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation at baseline; TLD and cAD were re-evaluated at a 24-month follow-up. At follow-up, TLD patients showed no significant worsening of cognitive functions, whereas cAD subjects displayed a significant worsening in all explored cognitive domains. In conclusion, our results confirm that probable AD presenting as TLD represents a specific onset of AD characterized by a slower rate of progression. (JINS, 2012, 18, 144–150)

Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibit a deficit in episodic recognition memory for odors. It is hypothesized that the higher rate of AD in women may be due to estrogen-deprivation in postmenopausal women. Research suggests that estrogen may help to minimize cognitive decline in AD as well as postmenopausal olfactory loss. The current study examined the effects of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) on performance of a recognition memory task for olfactory and visual stimuli in women AD patients. Participants included 24 women AD patients who were ERT users and 77 women AD patients who never used ERT. Compared with the ERT non-users, the ERT users committed significantly less false-positive memory errors for olfactory stimuli, whereas performance for visual stimuli did not differentiate between ERT users and non-users. The results suggest benefits of ERT could help ameliorate the earliest symptoms of AD, olfactory dysfunction, and memory impairment. (JINS, 2006, 12, 400–404.)

Objectives: This study assessed self-reported prospective memory and related central executive processes in a group of excessive alcohol users and non-users. The aim was to assess whether excessive alcohol use is associated with impairments in these two sets of memory processes.

Methods: Eighty participants from the North-East of England were tested. Of these, 40 were excessive alcohol users (using above the recommended weekly ‘safe’ dose of alcohol) and 40 were low-dose/non-users. Each participant was assessed using self-reports of prospective memory (PM) – measured using the Prospective Memory Questionnaire (PMQ) and central executive (CE) processes – measured using the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX). Other drug use, age and strategy use were incorporated into the study as controls.

Results: After controlling for other drug use, age, and strategy use, excessive alcohol users reported global impairments in everyday prospective memory and in their central executive processes, when compared to a low-dose/no-alcohol control group.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that excessive alcohol use has a detrimental impact upon everyday memory – a relatively unexplored area of research. PM and CE deficits should be added to the growing list of neuropsychological sequelae associated with chronic excessive alcohol use.

Wilson and Watson (1996) identified several factors that were associated with use of memory aids and strategies in a group of people with acquired brain injury. The present study tested these findings, with the aim of identifying the variables that best predict effective use of memory aids after brain injury. One-hundred and one people with memory problems arising from brain injury and their carers were interviewed to identify the aids/strategies used to compensate for memory impairment, and the efficacy of their use. Information relating to variables previously found, or hypothesized to predict use of memory aids, was collected. Use of memory aids correlated with level of independence. External aids such as calendars, wall charts, and notebooks were the most commonly used memory aids. Electronic organizers were not used by many participants. The variables that best predicted use of memory aids were (1) current age, (2) time since injury, (3) number of aids used premorbidly, and (4) a measure of attentional functioning. The implications for rehabilitation services are discussed. (JINS, 2003, 9, 925–935.)

Previous research has demonstrated dissociations between categorization and recognition performance in amnesic patients, supporting the idea that separate memory systems govern these tasks. However, previous research has also demonstrated that these dissociations are predicted by a single-system model that allows for reasonable parameter differences across groups. Generally, previous studies have employed categorization tasks that are less demanding than the recognition tasks. In this study, we distinguish between single-system and multiple-system accounts by testing memory-impaired individuals in a more demanding categorization task. These patients, just like previous amnesic participants, show a dissociation between categorization and recognition when tested in previously employed paradigms. However, they display a categorization deficit when tested in the more challenging categorization task. The results are interpreted as support for a single-system framework in which categorization and recognition depend on one representational system. (JINS, 2003, 9, 394–406.)