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

衰老通常伴随着记忆力衰退。具体来说，老年人很难记住记忆元素之间的联系（例如，脸和名字对），尽管他们对单个项目（例如，脸或名字）的记忆往往是完整的。这指的是与年龄相关的联想缺陷。过去的研究表明，在某些边界条件下，当提供内在（即内置刺激）或外在支持（如策略/指令）时，这种缺陷不存在或大大减少。然而，该领域仍然缺乏对这些边界条件及其工作机制（即行为或神经）的系统检查。为了填补这一空白，本研究将系统地研究在正常衰老过程中减少联想记忆缺陷的三种边界条件的影响，以及相关的行为调节因子和神经相关因子。具体来说，它解决了以下三个研究问题：1。在图式支持、价值赋值和项目预学习三种边界条件下，年龄相关的联想缺陷是否会减少？2. 在行为上，是否通过改进策略编码（即学习）和/或控制检索（即回忆）过程来减轻联想缺陷？3. 上述行为效应的神经关联是什么？主要的假设是，在确定的边界条件下，老年人的联想缺陷会减少，这些变化以增强的行为和神经效率为标志。将进行五项实验，采用多方法收集行为、电生理（即脑电图）和眼动追踪数据。实验2-4将记录词对联想学习任务期间的脑电图数据，实验5将跟踪眼动。在实验1-3中，一个改进的联想记忆过程将用于收集逐次的编码策略报告，并在检索过程中估计回忆（即记住先前经历事件的具体细节）。实验4是一个直接操纵和比较编码策略使用（即深与浅）和检索过程（即快速熟悉与慢节奏回忆）的验证性研究。实验5将采用一种新的三联体联想学习范式来评估图式支持对编码过程中眼球注视模式的影响，以及对每个三联体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上积极独立的生活至关重要。通过识别边界条件，该建议将促进我们对记忆老化因素及其行为或神经相关因素的理解。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联想信息（例如，对社会上有重要意义的人的面孔和名字）。

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).