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Cognitive correlates of memory integration across development: Explaining variability in an educationally relevant phenomenon.

ABSTRACT: The current research was an investigation of the cognitive correlates of individual differences in participants' capacity to derive new factual knowledge through integration of information acquired across separate yet related learning episodes. In a sample of 117 adults (Experiment 1) and 57 children aged 8 to 10 years (Experiment 2), we investigated the respective roles of verbal comprehension, working memory span, and relational reasoning in self-derivation of new knowledge through memory integration. The findings revealed patterns of consistency and inconsistency in the cognitive profiles underlying this form of learning in adults and children. In both adults and children, verbal knowledge and skills accounted for variability in self-derivation. Variance in adults, but not in children, was further explained by working memory. Given that individual differences in self-derivation have implications for real-world academic outcome, we also investigated the association between self-derivation and academic performance. We found that performance on the experimentally based self-derivation paradigm was related to concurrent and longitudinal academic success in both samples. The present research thus builds on the growing body of behavioral and neuroscientific research to advance our understanding of the cognitive factors associated with behaviors that depend on memory integration in both childhood and adulthood and also provides suggestive evidence of critical ways in which the process may differ in children and adults. Together, the findings provide a theoretically plausible and practically significant framework from which to guide future research aimed at enhancing this educationally relevant learning phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

SUBMITTER: Varga NL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6461377 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cognitive correlates of memory integration across development: Explaining variability in an educationally relevant phenomenon.

Varga Nicole L NL Esposito Alena G AG Bauer Patricia J PJ

Journal of experimental psychology. General 20190401 4

The current research was an investigation of the cognitive correlates of individual differences in participants' capacity to derive new factual knowledge through integration of information acquired across separate yet related learning episodes. In a sample of 117 adults (Experiment 1) and 57 children aged 8 to 10 years (Experiment 2), we investigated the respective roles of verbal comprehension, working memory span, and relational reasoning in self-derivation of new knowledge through memory inte ...[more]

PMID: 30973264

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Project description:OBJECTIVE:The objective was to deepen the understanding of the causes of individual variability in phenylketonuria (PKU) by investigating which metabolic variables are most important for predicting cognitive outcomes (Phe average vs Phe variation) and by assessing the risk of cognitive impairment associated with adopting a more relaxed approach to the diet than is currently recommended. METHOD:We analysed associations between metabolic and cognitive measures in a mixed sample of English and Italian early-treated adults with PKU (N = 56). Metabolic measures were collected through childhood, adolescence and adulthood; cognitive measures were collected in adulthood. Metabolic measures included average Phe levels (average of median values for each year in a given period) and average Phe variations (average yearly standard deviations). Cognition was measured with IQ and a battery of cognitive tasks. RESULTS:Phe variation was as important, if not more important, than Phe average in predicting adult outcomes and contributed independently. Phe variation was particularly detrimental in childhood. Together, childhood Phe variation and adult Phe average predicted around 40% of the variation in cognitive scores. Poor cognitive scores (> 1 SD from controls) occurred almost exclusively in individuals with poor metabolic control and the risk of poor scores was about 30% higher in individuals with Phe values exceeding recommended thresholds. CONCLUSIONS:Our results provide support for current European guidelines (average Phe value = < 360 μmol/l in childhood; = < 600 μmo/l from 12 years onwards), but they suggest an additional recommendation to maintain stable levels (possibly Phe SD = < 180 μmol/l throughout life). PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTS:We investigated the relationship between how well people with phenylketonuria control blood Phe throughout their life and their ability to carry out cognitive tasks in adulthood. We found that avoiding blood Phe peaks was as important if not more important that maintaining average low Phe levels. This was particularly essential in childhood. We also found that blood Phe levels above recommended European guidelines was associated with around 30% increase in the risk of poor cognitive outcomes.

Project description:The increased understanding that neuropathology begins decades before symptom onset, has led to the conceptualization and widespread utilization of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as an important transitional state between healthy aging and dementia. Further subcategorization to MCI subtype has led to more distinct prognoses and it is widely considered that amnestic and non-amnestic MCI (aMCI, naMCI) likely have distinct pathophysiologies. Yet, accurately classification remains contentious. Here, we differentiate hippocampal subfield volume between subtypes, diagnosed according to stringent clinical consensus criteria, where aMCI is characterized based on deficits in delayed recall (rather than encoding). We then identify memory performance correlates to subfield volume and associations with long-term cognitive performance and outcome. 3D T1-weighted structural MRI was acquired in 142 participants recruited from the Healthy Brain Aging (HBA) Clinic and diagnosed with aMCI (n = 38), naMCI (n = 84) or subjective memory complaints (SMC; n = 20). T1-weighted datasets were processed with the cortical and hippocampal subfield processing streams in FreeSurfer (v6.0). Subfield volumes, and associations with baseline and longitudinal objective memory scores were then examined. Subfield volumes were found to differentiate clinical profiles: subiculum, CA1, CA4 and dentate gyrus volumes were significantly reduced in aMCI compared to both naMCI and SMC. CA1 subfield volume was shown to predict concurrent memory performance in aMCI, while dentate gyrus volume significantly predicted longitudinal verbal learning and memory decline in the entire cohort. Our findings demonstrate that using a more stringent diagnostic approach to characterizing aMCI is well justified, as delayed recall deficits are strongly linked to underlying volumetric subfield reductions in CA1, CA4 and the dentate gyrus, subfields known to be associated with mnemonic processes. Further research is now warranted to replicate these findings in other MCI samples.

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Cognitive correlates of memory integration across development: Explaining variability in an educationally relevant phenomenon.

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Cognitive correlates of memory integration across development: Explaining variability in an educationally relevant phenomenon.

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