Aging and episodic memory: Changes in memory and narrative ability?
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2,4 Kurczek, J. , Bacopulos, A. , St.-‐Jacques, P.L. , Svoboda, E. , Rosenbaum, R.S. , & Levine, B.
1 York University, Toronto, Canada; 2Rotman Research InsOtute, Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, Canada; 3University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; 4 Departments of Psychology and Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto *[email protected] Memory NarraOve •  Previous research has shown that the ability to recall informaOon is aﬀected both by aging and the structure of narraOves. •  In the case of autobiographical memory, the episodic (event-‐speciﬁc, contextually rich) content has been found to change across the lifespan, but it is unclear if the style and structure of narraOve also changes with age. METHODS PARTICIPANTS Levine et al. 2002 Younger ParOcipants 15 Age 23.5(3.9) EducaOon 14.7(1.1) Older ParOcipants 15 Age 73.5(5.8) EducaOon 14.0(2.6) PROCEDURES St-‐Jacques & Levine, 2007 16 26.2(4.5) 15.6(2.5) 16 78.2(5.8) 14.0(2.9) 1 Autobiographical Interview Scoring Autobiographical Interview Scoring •  The main event, speciﬁc to Ome and place was isolated and segmented into details, grouped into two overarching categories •  Each detail is deﬁned as a unique occurrence, observaOon or thought Internal Details that pertain directly to the main event, speciﬁc to Ome or place and considered to reﬂect episodic re-‐experiencing Event Time Place Perceptual EmoOon/Thought External Details that were not part of the main event, were factual or did not require recollecOon, were repeated or other details SemanOc Other RepeOOon External Event Mean Number of Details Recalled ANALYSIS INTERNAL EXTERNAL EXTERNAL INTERNAL EXTERNAL INTERNAL # Category 1 Internal 2 Internal 3 Internal 4 External 5 External 6 Internal 7 Internal 8 External 9 Internal 10 Internal 11 External 12 External Size of Clustered Details Recall 6 events for emoOonal valence •  PosiOve •  NegaOve •  Neutral Occurred between 6 months-‐5 years ago INTERNAL INTERNAL INTERNAL EXTERNAL EXTERNAL 2 PreparaOon for coherence scoring 3 Memory Coherence Scoring Autobiographical Interview •  Three phases per memory, free recall, general probe, speciﬁc probe Recall for 5 Ome periods •  Early childhood •  Adolescent-‐teenage years •  Early adulthood •  Middle age •  Previous year INTERNAL 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 50 Detail ed ed ed o o ed t sem p ed o rep Order Where do details occur? 9 10 11 12 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 -‐5.5 -‐4.5 -‐3.5 -‐2.5 -‐1.5 -‐0.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 IN IN IN EX EX IN IN EX IN IN EX EX Cluster How ohen do details occur together? IN IN IN EX EX IN IN EX IN IN EX EX 3 2 2 2 2 Switches Where details change between categories? IN IN IN EX EX IN IN EX IN IN EX EX 1 2 3 4 5 STUDY 1 40 30 Old 20 Young 10 Group F Young -‐0.1 -‐0.2 -‐0.3 Internal External Detail Category Internal External Detail Category 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Old Young 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Group Old Young Internal External Detail Category Group*Type Internal External F p F p t p t p 0.552 57.96 <0.001 2.94 0.007 4.85 <0.001 0.04 Order 4.53 0.042 0.45 0.506 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ Cluster # 0.25 0.621 0.87 0.359 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ Cluster % 24.8 <0.001 53.58 <0.001 2.61 0.014 6.53 <0.001 Switches 5.07 12.60 0.001 0.52 0.605 3.45 0.002 0 Old -‐0.02 Young -‐0.04 Internal External Detail Category 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Old Young Internal External Detail Category Group*Type p Old 0.36 Internal External Detail Category Variable Young 0 Details Internal External Detail Category Young Old 0.1 0.06 -‐0.06 Old 0.2 Variable 0.02 0 0.3 Internal External Detail Category RESULTS Percent of Switches Language Order of Details 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Order of Details •  Episodic memory and language are intricately linked. RESULTS STUDY 2 Percent of Switches NarraOve Memory Coherence Scoring •  The Autobiographical Interview analysis provides details on the number and types of details in a narraOve, but not how the details are structured or placed in relaOon to each other •  Past invesOgaOons of coherence in narraOve have focused on macro-‐ and micro-‐linguisOc aspects of narraOves, but here the analysis is applied to the memory variables rather than language Size of Clustered Details INTRODUCTION Percent of Details Recalled ANALYSIS Internal External F p t p t p Details 3.76 0.063 7.37 0.011 3.56 0.001 0.08 0.941 Order 0.72 0.403 0.59 0.449 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ Cluster # 4.23 0.049 13.19 0.001 3.71 <0.001 0.38 0.705 Cluster % 3.98 0.056 4.51 0.043 0.48 0.637 2.33 0.029 Switches 0.37 0.547 1.45 0.238 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 0.032 DISCUSSION •  Despite diﬀerences in the number of internal versus external details within their narraOves, older and younger adults appear to structure their memories in similar ways, though detail clusters may diﬀer and could represent diﬀerences in episodic re-‐experiencing •  Other work has found signiﬁcant aging eﬀects in narraOve coherence suggesOng that there may be a diﬀerence between linguisOc coherence and memory coherence •  Future work should invesOgate the relaOonship between linguisOc and memory coherence as well as the inﬂuence of nonlinguisOc cogniOve processes REFERENCES Glosser, G., & Deser, T. (1992). A comparison of changes in macrolinguisOc and microlinguisOc aspects of discourse producOon in normal aging. Journal of Gerontology, 47(4), 266-‐272. Levine, B., Svoboda, E., Hay, J.F., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. (2002). Aging and autobiographical memory: DissociaOng episodic from semanOc retrieval. Psychology and Aging, 17(4), 677-‐689. St-‐Jacques, P., & Levine, B. (2007). Ageing and autobiographical memory for emoOonal and neutral events. Memory, 15(2), 129-‐144.