The mnemic neglect effect and information about dementia: age differences in recall

ABSTRACT

Dementia represents a more immediate threat for older than for younger adults. Consequently, different strategies may be used to defend the self against the threat of dementia. We hypothesised that older (compared to younger) adults are more likely to manifest mnemic neglect (in which information that is threatening to the self is selectively forgotten) to reduce distress for dementia-related information.Fifty-nine participants aged under 50 and 44 participants aged over 50 recalled 24 dementia-related statements that were either high or low in negativity. Participants were randomised to recall statements that referred either to themselves or another person. High-negativity, self-referent statements had the most substantial threat potential. The recall of older (but not younger) participants for high-negativity (vs. low-negativity) dementia-related statements was impaired when these statements referred to the self rather than to another person. These results indicate that older adults evince mnemic neglect in response to self-threatening information about dementia.

KEYWORDS:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• dementia
• memory
• short-term
• amnesia
• anterograde
• self-concept
• mnemic neglect

Acknowledgments

We thank participants in our study. We also thank Lauren Buckley, Aspasia Ftenou, Charlotte Godwin, Tom Ingram, Abbie Jones, Michelle Phillips, and Dani Tingley for their assistance with data collection, India Hart for providing maternity cover of the trial coordinator role, as well as Sanda Ismail and Bettina Zengel for their input. Last but not least, we recognize the contribution of the three Alzheimer Society monitors: Julia Burton, Louise Gillam, and Andra Houchen

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://cdn.yougov.com/today_uk_import/yg-archives-life-cancerresearch-diseases-150811.pdf, accessed on the 22^nd of May, 2018.

2. The study received approval from University of the West of England Faculty of Health and Social Sciences ethics committee on the 14^th of January 2016 (HAS/15/12/065). Amendment to allow additional recruitment of family and friends was approved on the 7^th of April 2017.

3. The Join Dementia Research Register is a UK based database that allows people to register their interest in taking part in research on dementia, and which researchers can use to contact potential participants. It is open to people both with and without a diagnosis of dementia (https://www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk)

4. Given some evidence for gender-consistent recall (Frawley, 2008), we followed previous practice in the literature by selecting “Chris”, a gender-neutral name.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Alzheimer’s Society [AS-PG-2013-13].