Improvement of encoding and retrieval in normal and pathological aging with word–picture paradigm

Abstract

Objectives: During the aging process, there is a progressive deficit in the encoding of new information and its retrieval. Different strategies are used in order to maintain, optimize or diminish these deficits in people with and without dementia. One of the classic techniques is paired-associate learning (PAL), which is based on improving the encoding of memories, but it has yet to be used to its full potential in people with dementia. In this study, our aim is to corroborate the importance of PAL tasks as instrumental tools for creating contextual cues, during both the encoding and retrieval phases of memory. Additionally, we aim to identify the most effective form of presenting the related items.

Method: Pairs of stimuli were shown to healthy elderly people and to patients with moderate and mild Alzheimer's disease. The encoding conditions were as follows: word/word, picture/picture, picture/word, and word/picture.

Results: Associative cued recall of the second item in the pair shows that retrieval is higher for the word/picture condition in the two groups of patients with dementia when compared to the other conditions, while word/word is the least effective in all cases.

Conclusion: These results confirm that PAL is an effective tool for creating contextual cues during both the encoding and retrieval phases in people with dementia when the items are presented using the word/picture condition. In this way, the encoding and retrieval deficit can be reduced in these people.

Keywords:

• Alzheimer
• paired-associate learning
• cued recall

Acknowledgements

We would like to express gratitude to the CRE Alzheimer's Salamanca-IMSERSO; Government of Spain for the contract for research collaboration between The Neurosciences Institute of Castile and Leon and The National Reference Centre of Alzheimer Disease.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [grant number MICINN, # BFU2010-17754].