Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-glrdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T23:12:25.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Working memory span in mild cognitive impairment. Influence of processing speed and cognitive reserve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2013

David Facal ,
Onésimo Juncos-Rabadán ,
Arturo X. Pereiro  and
Cristina Lojo-Seoane
David Facal*
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Onésimo Juncos-Rabadán
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Arturo X. Pereiro
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Cristina Lojo-Seoane
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. David Facal, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Sur, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Phone: +34-881813695; Fax: +34-981528071. Email: david.facal@usc.es.
Get access

Abstract

Background:

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often includes episodic memory impairment, but can also involve other types of cognitive decline. Although previous studies have shown poorer performance of MCI patients in working memory (WM) span tasks, different MCI subgroups were not studied.

Methods:

In the present exploratory study, 145 participants underwent extensive cognitive evaluation, which included three different WM span tasks, and were classified into the following groups: multiple-domain amnestic MCI (mda-MCI), single-domain amnestic MCI (sda-MCI), and controls. General linear model was conducted by considering the WM span tasks as the within-subject factor; the group (mda-MCI, sda-MCI, and controls) as the inter-subject factor; and processing speed, vocabulary and age as covariates. Multiple linear regression models were also used to test the influence of processing speed, vocabulary, and other cognitive reserve (CR) proxies.

Results:

Results indicate different levels of impairment of WM, with more severe impairment in mda-MCI patients. The differences were still present when processing resources and CR were controlled.

Conclusions:

Between-group differences can be understood as a manifestation of the greater severity and widespread memory impairment in mda-MCI patients and may contribute to a better understanding of continuum from normal controls to mda-MCI patients. Processing speed and CR have a limited influence on WM scores, reducing but not removing differences between groups.

Keywords

mild cognitive impairmentworking memorycognitive reservereaction timevocabularyworking memory span tasks

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , April 2014 , pp. 615 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Albert, M. S. et al. (2011). The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 7, 270–279. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2011.03.008.Google Scholar
Aretouli, E. and Brandt, J. (2009). Everyday functioning in mild cognitive impairment and its relationship with executive cognition. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 224–233. doi:10.1002/gps.2325.Google Scholar
Belanger, S. and Belleville, S. (2009). Semantic inhibition impairment in mild cognitive impairment: a distinctive feature of upcoming cognitive decline? Neuropsychology, 23, 592–606. doi:10.1037/a0016152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belleville, S., Chertkow, H. and Gauthier, S. (2007). Working memory and control of attention in persons with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychology, 21, 458–469.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belleville, S., Sylvain-Roy, S., de Boysson, C. and Ménard, M. C. (2008). Characterizing the memory changes in persons with mild cognitive impairment. In Sossin, W. S., Lacaille, J.-C., Castellucci, V. F. and Belleville, S. (eds.), Progress in Brain Research Essence of Memory, 365–375. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Science. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(07)00023-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benedet, M. J. and Alejandre, M. A. (1998). TAVEC: Test de Aprendizaje Verbal España-Complutense. Madrid, Spain: Tea Ediciones.Google Scholar
Benedet, M. J. and Seisdedos, N. (1996). Evaluación clínica de las quejas de la memoria en la vida cotidiana. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Médica Panamericana, SA.Google Scholar
Blair, M-, Vadaga, K. K., Shuchat, J. and Li, K. Z. H. (2011). The role of age and inhibitory efficiency in working memory processing and storage components. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 1157–1172.Google Scholar
Brandt, J., Aretouli, E., Neijstrom, E., Samek, J., Manning, K. and Albert, M. S. (2009). Selectivity of executive function deficits in mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychology, 23, 607–618. doi:10.1037/a0015851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buckner, R. L. (2004). Memory and executive function review in aging and AD: multiple factors that cause decline and reserve factors that compensate. Neuron, 44, 195–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carretti, B., Borella, E., Fostinelli, S. and Zavagnin, M. (2013). Benefits of training working memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: specific and transfer effects. International Psychogeriatrics, 25, 617–626. doi:10.1017/S1041610212002177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Case, R., Kurland, M. D. and Goldberg, J. (1982). Operational efficiency and the growth of short-term memory span. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 33, 386–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, A. R. A., Kane, M. J. and Engle, R. W. (2003). Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 547–552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daneman, M. and Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 19, 450–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economou, A., Papageorgiou, S. and Karageorgiou, C. (2006). Working-delayed memory difference detects mild cognitive impairment without being affected by age and education. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 28, 528–535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Economou, A., Papageorgiou, S., Karageorgiou, C. and Vassilopoulos, D. (2007). Nonepisodic memory deficits in amnestic MCI. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 20, 99–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedman, N. P. and Miyake, A. (2004). The reading span test and its predictive power for reading comprehension ability. Journal of Memory and Language, 51, 136–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gagnon, L. G. and Belleville, S. (2011). Working memory in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: contribution of forgetting and predictive value of complex span tasks. Neuropsychology, 25, 226–236. doi:10.1037/a0020919.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garibotto, V. et al. (2008). Education and occupation as proxies for reserve in aMCI converters and AD: FDG-PET evidence. Neurology, 71, 1342–1349. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000327670.62378.c0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawton, M. P. and Brody, E. M. (1969). Assesment of older people: selfmaintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. The Gerontologist, 3, 179–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobo, A. et al. (1999). Revalidación y normalización del Mini-Examen Cognoscitivo (primera versión en castellano del Mini-Mental Status Examination) en la población general geríátrica. Medicina Clínica, 112, 767–774.Google Scholar
Lojo-Seoane, C., Facal, D. and Juncos-Rabadán, O. (2012) ¿Previene la actividad intelectual el deterioro cognitivo? Relaciones entre reserva cognitiva y deterioro cognitivo ligero. Revista Española de Geriatría y Gerontología, 47, 270–278. doi:10.1016/j.regg.2012.02.006.Google Scholar
Petersen, R. C. (2004). Mild cognitive impairment as a diagnostic entity. Journal of Internal Medicine, 256, 183–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robbins, T. W., James, M., Owen, A. M., Sahakian, B. J., McInnes, L. and Rabbitt, P. (1994). Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): a factor analytic study of a large sample of normal elderly volunteers. Dementia, 5, 266–281.Google ScholarPubMed
Roth, M., Huppert, F. A., Mountjoy, C. Q. and Tym, E. (1999). CAMDEX-R: The Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly (Revised). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T. and Babcock, R. (1991). Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 763–776.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. and Davis, H. P. (2006). Organization of cognitive abilities and neuropsychological variables across the lifespan. Developmental Review, 26, 31–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmand, B., Smith, J. H., Geerlings, M. I. and Lindeboom, J. (1997). The effects of intelligence and education on the development of dementia: a test of the brain reserve hypothesis. Psychological Medicine: A Journal of Research in Psychiatry and the Allied Sciences, 27, 1337–1344. doi:10.1017/S0033291797005461.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solé-Padullés, C. et al. (2009). Brain structure and function related to cognitive reserve variables in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 30, 1114–1124. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2007.10.008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, Y. (2009). Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2015–2028. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.004.Google Scholar
Unsworth, N., Redick, T., Heitz, R., Broadway, J. and Engle, R. (2009). Complex working memory span tasks and higher-order cognition: a latent-variable analysis of the relationship between processing and storage. Memory, 17, 635–654.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1988). WAIS. Escala de Inteligencia de Wechsler para Adultos. Madrid, Spain: TEA Ediciones.Google Scholar
Wu Nordahl, C., Ranganath, C., Yonelinas, A. P., DeCarli, C., Reed, B. R. and Jagust, W. J. (2005). Different mechanisms of episodic memory failure in mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1688–1697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar