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Mnemonic strategy training improves memory for object location associations in both healthy elderly and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, single-blind study.

ABSTRACT: To evaluate the efficacy of mnemonic strategy training versus a matched-exposure control condition and to examine the relationship between training-related gains, neuropsychological abilities, and medial temporal lobe volumetrics in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and age-matched healthy controls.Twenty-three of 45 screened healthy controls and 29 of 42 screened patients with aMCI were randomized to mnemonic strategy or matched-exposure groups. Groups were run in parallel, with participants blind to the other intervention. All participants completed five sessions within 2 weeks. Memory testing for object-location associations (OLAs) was performed during sessions one and five and at a 1-month follow-up. During Sessions 2-4, participants received either mnemonic strategy training or a matched number of exposures with corrective feedback for a total of 45 OLAs. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed in most participants, and medial temporal lobe volumetrics were acquired.Twenty-one healthy controls and 28 patients with aMCI were included in data analysis. Mnemonic strategy training was significantly more beneficial than matched exposure immediately after training, p = .006, partial ?2 = .16, and at 1 month, p < .001, partial ?2 = .35, regardless of diagnostic group (healthy group or aMCI group). Although patients with aMCI demonstrated gains comparable to the healthy control groups, their overall performance generally remained reduced. Mnemonic strategy-related improvement was correlated positively with baseline memory and executive functioning and negatively with inferior lateral ventricle volume in patients with aMCI; no significant relationships were evident in matched-exposure patients.Mnemonic strategies effectively improve memory for specific content for at least 1 month in patients with aMCI.

SUBMITTER: Hampstead BM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3348454 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mnemonic strategy training improves memory for object location associations in both healthy elderly and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, single-blind study.

Hampstead Benjamin M BM Sathian Krish K Phillips Pamela A PA Amaraneni Akshay A Delaune William R WR Stringer Anthony Y AY

Neuropsychology 20120312 3

<h4>Objective</h4>To evaluate the efficacy of mnemonic strategy training versus a matched-exposure control condition and to examine the relationship between training-related gains, neuropsychological abilities, and medial temporal lobe volumetrics in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and age-matched healthy controls.<h4>Method</h4>Twenty-three of 45 screened healthy controls and 29 of 42 screened patients with aMCI were randomized to mnemonic strategy or matched-exposure gr ...[more]

PMID: 22409311

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Project description:Learning and memory deficits characterize the diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), which is widely viewed as a clinical precursor to Alzheimer's type dementia. There is a growing interest in non-pharmacologic interventions, such as mnemonic strategies, for improving learning and memory in patients with aMCI as well as for maintaining functioning in healthy older adults. Using an ecologically relevant object-location association paradigm, we conducted a randomized, controlled, single-blind study in which healthy older adults and patients with aMCI were randomized to either mnemonic strategy training or a control group that was matched for stimulus exposure. We previously reported that mnemonic strategy training resulted in significantly greater learning and memory improvements compared to the matched exposure condition, in both aMCI patients and healthy controls. The current study examined changes in neocortical activation during encoding in a subset of participants who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning both before and after training. To minimize potential confounds in between-group comparisons, we employed non-linear cortex based alignment and included only correctly encoded stimuli in our analyses. When re-encoding stimuli learned during training (i.e., trained stimuli), we found a general enhancement of activation in right prefrontal and parietal regions, possibly reflecting practice-related improvement in coordinate spatial processing in all but the aMCI exposure group. Left hemisphere activation was typically only evident in the mnemonic strategy trained participants, regardless of diagnostic status, with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex appearing especially important for strategy use. While encoding relatively novel stimuli, both mnemonic strategy groups (aMCI patients and healthy controls) demonstrated increased activation in a subset of regions showing change for the trained stimuli, indicating a mnemonic strategy-induced change in the processing of new information. These findings could not be explained by repeated exposure since there was little to no activation overlap in the respective exposure control groups. The current results reinforce the potential benefits of cognitive interventions in these growing populations and indicate that neuroplastic change in key rostral and lateral prefrontal regions mediate this behavioral change.

Dataset Information

Mnemonic strategy training improves memory for object location associations in both healthy elderly and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, single-blind study.

Publications

Mnemonic strategy training improves memory for object location associations in both healthy elderly and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, single-blind study.

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