Understanding memory for pictures in Alzheimer's diease

描述（由申请人提供）：阿尔茨海默病（AD）的记忆研究通常集中在基于单词或口头刺激的研究上。然而，图片可能具有更多的临床和生态重要性，因为患者通常面临视觉刺激，如人、地标和药物。研究表明，图片可以帮助健康的老年人改善歧视，减少错误记忆，并转向更保守的反应偏见。反应偏差是一个人在识别记忆测试中倾向于回答“旧的”或“新的”。阿尔茨海默病患者表现出异常高的错误记忆率和自由反应偏差。初步研究表明，AD患者也可以利用图片提供的独特信息来提高他们的辨别能力，减少错误记忆的数量。目前的应用将使用实验心理学和认知神经科学技术来检查图片对AD患者记忆表现的影响。提出了两个行为和两个事件相关电位（ERP）实验来评估三个具体目标。目的1将在一个实验中比较对图片和文字的歧视和反应偏差，在研究和测试中系统地改变图片和文字。目的2将使用标准的内侧颞叶和额叶功能的神经心理学测量来评估可能有助于图像对阿尔茨海默病辨别和反应偏差影响的神经解剖学区域。最后，Aim 3将使用灰度与彩色图片以及一定程度的处理操作来评估关于图片如何影响AD记忆过程的两个假设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Memory research in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has typically focused on word-based or verbal stimuli. However, pictures may have more clinical and ecological importance, as patients are commonly faced with visual stimuli, such as people, landmarks, and medications. Research has shown that pictures can help healthy older adults improve discrimination, reduce false memories, and shift to a more conservative response bias. Response bias is one's tendency to respond "old" or "new" on a recognition memory test. AD patients exhibit an abnormally high rate of false memories and a liberal response bias. Preliminary studies suggest that AD patients may also be able to use the distinctive information provided by pictures to improve their discrimination and reduce their number of false memories. The current application will use techniques of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience to examine the effect of pictures on memory performance in AD patients. Two behavioral and two event-related potential (ERP) experiments are proposed to evaluate three specific aims. Aim 1 will compare discrimination and response bias for pictures versus words in a single experiment systematically varying pictures and words at study and test. Aim 2 will use standard neuropsychological measures of medial temporal lobe and frontal lobe function to evaluate neuroanatomical regions that may contribute to the effect of pictures on discrimination and response bias in AD. Finally, Aim 3 will use grayscale versus color pictures and a level of processing manipulation to evaluate two hypotheses regarding how pictures might affect memory processes in AD.