347
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Existing semantic knowledge provides a schematic scaffold for inference in early cognitive decline, but not in amnestic MCI

, , , , &
Pages 75-96 | Received 15 Apr 2019, Accepted 17 Oct 2019, Published online: 13 Nov 2019
 

ABSTRACT

Healthy older adults show impaired relational learning, but improved transitive expression when inferences are made across pre-experimentally known premise relations. Here, we used the transitivity paradigm to ask whether the organizational structure within schemas facilitates the bridging of relations for novel inference for otherwise healthy older adults who are exhibiting early signs of cognitive decline (“at-risk” older adults), and individuals with single- or multiple-domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Relational learning was impaired in the two older adult groups, but transitive expression was facilitated by prior semantic knowledge of relations. Prior semantic knowledge did not improve novel inference for aMCI individuals. Schematic scaffolding can successfully support inference in preclinical cognitive decline, but such cognitive support may no longer be useful later in the disease process when dysfunction in neural circuitry may be too severe. The findings encourage future work of semantic knowledge and inference in larger samples of aMCI cases.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Operating Grant awarded to J.D.R. (MOP-126003), a postdoctoral fellowship from CIHR awarded to M.C.D., and funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care through the Ontario Research Coalition of Research Institutes/Centres on Health & Aging (ORC) awarded to M.C.D. R.S.R. acknowledges support from a VISTA York Research Chair and NSERC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research [Grant Number MFE129852]; Institute of Aging: [Grant Number MOP-126003].

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 509.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.