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The detrimental impacts of negative age stereotypes on the episodic memory of older adults: does social participation moderate the effects?

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Older adults' cognitive abilities can be impaired through priming of negative age stereotypes. However, it is unclear whether the effects of negative priming can be extended to episodic memory, which is believed to be the most age-sensitive type among the long-term memory systems, in Asian populations. Social participation has recently emerged as a potential protective factor for maintaining the cognitive function of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory and the moderating role of social participation in the priming effect. METHODS:A total of 105 community-dwelling older adults residing in Hong Kong were randomly allocated to two experimental conditions. Participants were primed either with negative age stereotype words (n?=?53) or neutral words (n?=?52) using an implicit priming task. Episodic memory performance was assessed using the Hong Kong List Learning Task (HKLLT), which includes total learning, two delayed recalls and a recognition task. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess group differences in the priming task and memory performance, while a series of moderation analyses were performed to examine the moderating effects of social participation. RESULTS:The group that received negative age stereotype priming performed significantly worse than the group that received neutral words in their episodic memory test. Additional analyses showed that socially active individuals might be less prone to the effects of negative age stereotypes for the recognition task only. CONCLUSIONS:Older adults who are more socially active might be more immune to the effects of negative age stereotype priming on episodic memory. These results provide initial support for the hypothesis that social participation might act as an effective strategy to ward against negative age stereotype priming. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04202120 (first posted December 17, 2019), (Retrospectively registered).

SUBMITTER: Chan SCY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7643323 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The detrimental impacts of negative age stereotypes on the episodic memory of older adults: does social participation moderate the effects?

Chan Stephen C Y SCY Au Alma M L AML Lai Simon M K SMK

BMC geriatrics 20201105 1

<h4>Background</h4>Older adults' cognitive abilities can be impaired through priming of negative age stereotypes. However, it is unclear whether the effects of negative priming can be extended to episodic memory, which is believed to be the most age-sensitive type among the long-term memory systems, in Asian populations. Social participation has recently emerged as a potential protective factor for maintaining the cognitive function of older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the e ...[more]

PMID: 33153433

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Project description:BackgroundSocial participation (SP) may be an effective measure for decreasing frailty risks. This study investigated whether frequency and type of SP is associated with decreased frailty risk among Chinese middle-aged and older populations.MethodsData were derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Frailty was assessed using the Rockwood's Cumulative Deficit Frailty Index. SP was measured according to frequency (none, occasional, weekly and daily) and type (interacting with friends [IWF]; playing mah-jong, chess, and cards or visiting community clubs [MCCC], going to community-organized dancing, fitness, qigong and so on [DFQ]; participating in community-related organizations [CRO]; voluntary or charitable work [VOC]; using the Internet [INT]). Smooth curves were used to describe the trend for frailty scores across survey waves. The fixed-effect model (N = 9,422) was applied to explore the association between the frequency/type of SP and frailty level. For baseline non-frail respondents (N = 6,073), the time-varying Cox regression model was used to calculate relative risk of frailty in different SP groups.ResultsWeekly (β = - 0.006; 95%CI: [- 0.009, - 0.003]) and daily (β = - 0.009; 95% CI: [- 0.012, - 0.007]) SP is associated with lower frailty scores using the fixed-effect models. Time-varying Cox regressions present lower risks of frailty in daily SP group (HR = 0.76; 95% CI: [0.69, 0.84]). SP types that can significantly decrease frailty risk include IWF, MCCC and DFQ. Daily IWF and daily DFQ decreases frailty risk in those aged < 65 years, female and urban respondents, but not in those aged ≥ 65 years, male and rural respondents. The impact of daily MCCC is significant in all subgroups, whereas that of lower-frequent MCCC is not significant in those aged ≥ 65 years, male and rural respondents.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that enhancing participation in social activities could decrease frailty risk among middle-aged and older populations, especially communicative activities, intellectually demanding/engaging activities and community-organized physical activities. The results suggested very accurate, operable, and valuable intervening measures for promoting healthy ageing.

Project description:Memory formation is a dynamic process that comprises different phases, such as encoding, consolidation and retrieval. It could be altered by several factors such as sleep quality, anxiety, and depression levels. In the last years, due to COVID-19 pandemic, there was a reduction in sleep quality, an increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as an impairment in emotional episodic memory encoding, especially in young adults. Taking into account the profound impact of sleep quality in daily life a series of rules has been developed that are conducive to consistently achieving good sleep, known as sleep hygiene education. These interventions have been shown to be effective in improving sleep quality and duration and reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms. Here we propose the implementation of a brief sleep hygiene education to improve sleep quality and memory performance as well as to diminish anxiety and depressive scores. For that, participants were divided into two groups: Sleep hygiene education and control group. After that, they were evaluated for anxiety, depression, and sleep quality levels and trained on an episodic memory task. They were tested immediately after (short-term test) and also 1 week later (long-term test). This procedure was also performed before the sleep hygiene education and was taken as baseline level. We found that episodic memory performance for young adults improved for the SHE group after intervention but not for older adults, and no improvements in emotional variables were observed. Despite not observing a significant effect of the intervention for young and older adults regarding the sleep quality scores, we consider that there may be an improvement in sleep physiology that is not subjectively perceived, but would also have a positive impact on memory processes. These results show that even a sleep hygiene education of 1 week could improve cognition in young adults when acute memory and sleep impairment occurs, in this case, due to the isolation by COVID-19 pandemic. However, we suggest that longer interventions should be implemented for older adults who already experience a natural decline in cognitive processes such as episodic memory formation.

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The detrimental impacts of negative age stereotypes on the episodic memory of older adults: does social participation moderate the effects?

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The detrimental impacts of negative age stereotypes on the episodic memory of older adults: does social participation moderate the effects?

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