Memory for the 2008 presidential election in healthy ageing and mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

The present study examined memory accuracy and confidence for personal and public event details of the 2008 presidential election in healthy older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants completed phone interviews within a week after the election and after a 10-month delay. MCI patients and healthy older adults had comparable emotional reactions to learning the outcome of the election, with most people finding it to be a positive experience. After the delay period, details about the election were better remembered by all participants than a less emotionally arousing comparison event. However, MCI patients had more difficulty than healthy older adults correctly recalling details of public information about the election, although often the MCI patients could recognise the correct details. This is the first study to show that MCI patients' memory can benefit from emotionally arousing positive events, complementing the literature demonstrating similar effects for negative events.

Keywords:

• Event memory
• Flashbulb memory
• MCI
• Ageing
• Emotional memory

We are grateful to Sara Samaha, Ranga Atapattu and Jillian Burdziak for help with data collection and entry, and Erin Hussey and the staff of The Memory Clinic, Bennington, VT for assistance with recruitment. We thank Alisha Holland for helpful discussions.

This research was supported by funding from the Searle Scholars Program (EAK); Boston College (EAK and JDW); National Institute on Aging grant [P30 AG13846] (AEB). This material is also the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, and the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA. Writing of this manuscript was supported in part by the VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment (JDW).

We are grateful to Sara Samaha, Ranga Atapattu and Jillian Burdziak for help with data collection and entry, and Erin Hussey and the staff of The Memory Clinic, Bennington, VT for assistance with recruitment. We thank Alisha Holland for helpful discussions.

This research was supported by funding from the Searle Scholars Program (EAK); Boston College (EAK and JDW); National Institute on Aging grant [P30 AG13846] (AEB). This material is also the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, and the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA. Writing of this manuscript was supported in part by the VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment (JDW).

Notes

¹ Analyses comparing proportional responses for the phone call versus only the personal questions about election memory revealed the same pattern of results; there were no significant interactions with group.