The influence of cognitive reserve and age on the use of memory strategies

Figures & data

Figure 1. The age distribution of the study population.

Table 1. Effects of age, cognitive reserve (CR), and executive function (EF) measures on memory performance.

	Performance scores
Predictors	SOT recall (β)	VPA I (β)	VPA II (β)
Age	−.20*	−.41***	−.31**
CR	.47***	.11	.10
EF
Digit span	.29**	.12	.19
Letter fluency	.05	.14	.17
TMT B/A	−.13	.08	−.01
	R^2 = .44***	R^2 = .32***	R^2 = .27***

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

TMT B/A: Trail Making Test B/A ratio; SOT: strategy observation task; VPA: Verbal Paired Associates.

Figure 2. Plots of correlations (Pearson) between age, cognitive reserve (CR), and the three executive function measures: Digit Span, Letter Fluency, and Trail Making Test B/A ratio (TMT B/A ratio).

Table 2. Pearson correlations between age, executive function (EF) measures, cognitive reserve (CR), and strategy measures.

			EF
Strategy measures	Age	CR	Digit Span	Letter Fluency	TMT B/A
MIA internal	.01	.31**	−.11	.05	.04
MIA external	.20	.33**	−.09	.04	.01
SOT total	−.22*	.35**	.25*	−.02	.16
SOT observed	−.17	.33**	.31**	.13	.07
VPA self-report	−.20	.31**	−.03	.07	.14

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01.

TMT B/A: Trail Making Test B/A ratio; MIA: Memory in Adulthood Questionnaire; SOT: strategy observation task; VPA: Verbal Paired Associates.

Table 3. Effects of age, cognitive reserve (CR), and executive function (EF) measures on strategy use.

	MIA		SOT		VPA
	Internal strategies	External strategies	Total strategies	Observed strategies	Self-reported strategies
Predictors	β	β	β	β	β
Age	−.11	.11	−.18	−.13	−.19
CR	.38**	.43***	.41**	.31*	.39**
EF
Digit span	−.22	−.16	.08	.17	−.24
Letter Fluency	−.05	−.12	−.27*	−.10	−.03
TMT B/A	−.03	−.06	.13	−.08	.05
	R^2 = .13	R^2 = .19**	R^2 = .21**	R^2 = .15*	R^2 = .17*

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

TMT B/A: Trail Making Test B/A ratio; MIA: Memory in Adulthood Questionnaire; SOT: strategy observation task; VPA: Verbal Paired Associates.

Table 4. Prevalence of use of observed and self-reported memory strategies during encoding of the strategy observation task (SOT) and their correlations (Pearson) with age, cognitive reserve (CR), and executive function (EF) measures.

				EF
Strategy (prevalence %)	Age	CR	Digit Span	Letter Fluency	TMT B/A
Observed strategies
Asked questions about instructions (84)	−.05	−.03	.01	−.16	.01
Repetition of instructions or story (69) (out loud or with lip movements)	.01	−.05	.02	−.08	−.03
Asked to turn off the music (24)	−.02	.21	.19	.18	.11
Took notes of instructions or story (74)	−.22*	.30**	.34**	.27*	−.03
Took time to concentrate or encode story (54)	−.05	.16	.03	.04	.06
Set an alarm or looked at a clock (42)	−.12	.36***	.25*	.01	.15
Recalled story fluently (77) (in a coherent way, not in keywords)	−.18	.24*	.29**	.19	−.07
Self-reported strategies
Concentrated on story (81)	−.15	.22*	.20	−.01	.13
Repetition of story (45)	−.19	−.19	−.09	−.31*	.01
Pictured story (30)	.01	.27*	.16	.02	.30**
Related story to own life (8)	−.08	−.10	−.25*	−.15	.15
Pictured self in story (3)	.09	−.02	−.10	.02	.13
Other (15)	.04	.44***	.10	−.09	.13

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

TMT B/A: Trail Making Test B/A ratio.

Table 5. Prevalence of use of self-reported memory strategies during encoding of the verbal paired associates (VPA) and their correlations (Pearson) with age, cognitive reserve (CR), and executive function (EF) measures.

				EF
Strategy (prevalence %)	Age	CR	Digit Span	Letter fluency	TMT B/A
Concentration (90)	−.16	.20	.12	.16	.13
Repetition of items (66)	−.29**	.05	−.06	.06	.05
Pictured items (45)	−.21	.21	.03	−.03	.24*
Created associations between items (30)	.02	.32**	−.02	.25*	.07
Created a story with items (23)	−.17	.37***	.05	.16	−.03
Created a sentence with items (11)	−.18	−.02	.17	.08	−.09
Pictured self with items (18)	.04	.12	−.12	.06	−.05
Focused on specific letters of items (18)	.15	−.06	−.14	−.21	.02
Focused on sounds of items (29)	.05	−.04	−.17	−.21	.08
Other (12)	−.07	.12	.14	−.01	.08

Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

TMT B/A: Trail Making Test B/A ratio.