Boundary Conditions for Age-related Associative Deficit: Behavioural Moderators and Neural Mechanisms

与年龄相关的联想缺陷的边界条件：行为调节器和神经机制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04978
• 负责人: Yang, Lixia
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: Ryerson University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=740326
• 关键词: Boundary; Conditions; Age; related; Associative

Aging usually accompanies with memory decline. Specifically, older adults have difficulty remembering associations among memory elements (e.g., face-name pairs), despite their memory for individual items (e.g., faces or names) tend to be intact. This refers to the age-related associative deficit. Past research suggested that this deficit was absent or much reduced in some boundary conditions when intrinsic (i.e., built in stimuli) or extrinsic support (e.g., strategies/instructions) was provided. However, the field still lacks a systematic examination of these boundary conditions and their working mechanisms (i.e., behavioural or neural). To fill this gap, the proposed research will systematically examine the effects of three boundary conditions that reduce the associative memory deficit in normal aging, as well as the associated behavioural moderators and neural correlates. Specifically, it addresses the following three research questions: 1. Would age-related associative deficit be reduced in the following three boundary conditions: schematic support, value assignment, and item pre-learning? 2. Behaviourally, is the attenuated associative deficit moderated by improved strategic encoding (i.e., learning) and/or controlled retrieval (i.e., recollection) processes? 3. What are the neural correlates for the aforementioned behavioural effects? The leading hypothesis is that older adults' associative deficit would be reduced in the identified boundary conditions, and these changes are marked by enhanced behavioural and neural efficiency. Five experiments will be conducted, with a multi-method approach to collect behavioural, electrophysiological (i.e., EEG), and eye-tracking data. EEG data will be recorded during the word-pair associative learning task in Exp. 2-4, and eye movements will be tracked in Exp. 5. In Exp. 1-3, a modified associative memory procedure will be used to collect trial-by-trial encoding strategy report and to estimate recollection (i.e., remembering specific details of previously experienced events) during retrieval. Exp. 4 is a validation study to directly manipulate and compare encoding strategy use (i.e., deep vs. shallow) and retrieval process (i.e., speeded familiarity vs. slow-paced recollection). Exp. 5 will adopt a novel triplet associative learning paradigm to assess the effect of schematic support on eye-fixation patterns during encoding and on the subsequent cued recall of the two associations in each triplet. Memory for associations is crucial for older adults to lead an active and independent life. Through identifying the boundary conditions, the proposal will advance our understanding of the factors and their behavioural or neural correlates in memory aging. The results will guide the practice of memory prevention or intervention with effective strategies that older adults could use to remember important associative information (e.g., face-name pairs of socially significant others).

衰老通常伴随着记忆力下降。具体来说，老年人很难记住记忆元素之间的关联（例如，面孔-姓名对），尽管他们对个别项目有记忆（例如，脸或名字）往往是完整的。这是指与年龄相关的联想缺陷。过去的研究表明，当内在（即，内置刺激）或外部支持（例如，（指导/指导）。然而，该领域仍然缺乏对这些边界条件及其工作机制（即，行为的或神经的）。 为了填补这一空白，拟议的研究将系统地研究三种边界条件的影响，这些条件可以减少正常衰老中的联想记忆缺陷，以及相关的行为调节因子和神经相关因子。具体而言，它解决了以下三个研究问题：1。在图式支持、价值分配和项目预学习这三个边界条件下，年龄相关的联想缺陷是否会减少？ 2.在行为上，减弱的联想缺陷是否由改进的策略编码（即，学习）和/或受控检索（即，回忆）过程？ 3.上述行为效应的神经相关性是什么？ 主要的假设是，老年人的联想赤字将减少在确定的边界条件，这些变化的特点是增强行为和神经效率。将进行五个实验，采用多方法方法收集行为、电生理（即，EEG）和眼睛跟踪数据。EEG数据将在实验中的词对联想学习任务期间记录。2-4，眼球运动将在实验中跟踪。5.在Exp.如图1-3所示，将使用修改的关联记忆过程来收集逐个试验的编码策略报告并估计回忆（即，记住先前经历的事件的具体细节）。Exp. 4是直接操纵和比较编码策略使用的验证研究（即，深对浅）和检索过程（即，快速熟悉对比慢节奏回忆）。Exp. 5将采用一种新的三联联想学习范式来评估图式支持对编码过程中的眼注视模式以及每个三联联想中两个联想的后续线索回忆的影响。 联想记忆对于老年人过积极和独立的生活至关重要。通过确定边界条件，该建议将促进我们对记忆老化的因素及其行为或神经相关性的理解。研究结果将指导记忆预防或干预的实践，老年人可以使用有效的策略来记住重要的关联信息（例如，社会重要他人的脸-名配对）。