ABSTRACT
Non-focal prospective memory (PM) is sensitive to age-related decline; an additional impairment in focal PM is characteristic of mild stage Alzheimer’s disease. This research explored whether, by mid-adulthood, the distinct demands of focal and non-focal PM expose differences in carriers of an APOE ε4 allele, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Thirty-three young and 55 mid-age adults, differentiated by APOE genotype, completed a category-decision task with a concurrent focal or non-focal PM demand. Only mid-age ε4 carriers showed a cost of carrying a focal PM intention. In addition, mid-age ε4 carriers showed a significantly greater cost of carrying a non-focal PM intention than young ε4 carriers, supporting a profile of accelerated aging. Consistency in the profile of cost differences observed in mid-age ε4 carriers and pathological aging may indicate premature vulnerability. Future research correlating a shift in PM performance with early genotype differences in brain-based markers of decline is important.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Genotype analysis unavailable for this participant.
2. Volunteers with ε2/ε4 genotype were retained in the present analysis to improve sample power; an additional analysis removing these two volunteers demonstrated that the outcomes were not significantly different.
3. IQ did not account for significant variance (p > .05) across indices of category decision PM task performance and hence will not be discussed in further detail.