Generic placeholder image

Current Alzheimer Research

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1567-2050
ISSN (Online): 1875-5828

Research Article

The Effects of Exposure to Recent Autobiographical Events on Declarative Memory in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Preliminary Pilot Study

Author(s): Olga Gelonch, Neus Cano, Marta Vancells, Marc Bolaños, Laia Farràs-Permanyer and Maite Garolera*

Volume 17, Issue 2, 2020

Page: [158 - 167] Pages: 10

DOI: 10.2174/1567205017666200317093341

Price: $65

Abstract

Background: Individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) are at heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia. In recent years, much attention has been given to the search for new interventions to slow down the progression of cognitive decline of these patients. Wearable digital camera devices are one form of new technology that captures images of one’s life events, so they constitute a promising method to be used as a means to stimulate recent autobiographical memory.

Objective: This preliminary study investigates the ability of a new cognitive intervention based on exposure to recent autobiographical memory captured by wearable cameras to improve episodic memory in patients with aMCI.

Methods: Seventeen subjects wore a wearable camera while they went about their daily activities. The images captured were converted into eight different 3-minute films containing the most relevant information of each event. The intervention involved eight individualized weekly sessions during which patients were exposed to a different autobiographical event each week. Besides, several specific questions were formulated within each session. Clinical questionnaires assessing cognitive reserve, premorbid intelligence, depression, and anxiety were administered at baseline. Measures of objective episodic memory were applied at baseline and at post-treatment.

Results: Significant improvements were observed at post-treatment in memory measures, and significant associations were found between memory change scores and age and cognitive reserve. Anyway, these associations did not reach statistical significance after adjusting for multiple comparisons.

Conclusion: The present study provides preliminary evidence that aMCI patients may benefit from a cognitive intervention program based on re-experiencing recent autobiographical events. However, future studies incorporating a control group will be needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

Keywords: Autobiographical memory, aMCI, wearable, episodic memory, intervention, quasi-experimental design.

[1]
Tulving E. Episodic memory: from mind to brain. Annu Rev Psychol 53: 1-25. (2002).
[2]
Conway MA, Pleydell-Pearce CW. The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychol Rev 107(2): 261-88. (2000).
[3]
Conway MA. Memory and the self. J Mem Lang 53(4): 594-628. (2005).
[4]
Prebble SC, Addis DR, Tippett LJ. Autobiographical memory and sense of self. Psychol Bull 139(4): 815-40. (2013).
[5]
Jetten J, Haslam C, Pugliese C, Tonks J, Haslam SA. Declining autobiographical memory and the loss of identity: effects on well-being. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 32(4): 408-16. (2010).
[6]
Piolino P, Desgranges B, Benali K, Eustache F. Episodic and semantic remote autobiographical memory in ageing. Memory 10(4): 239-57. (2002).
[7]
Meléndez JC, Agusti AI, Satorres E, Pitarque A. Are semantic and episodic autobiographical memories influenced by the life period remembered? Comparison of young and older adults. Eur J Ageing 15(4): 417-24. (2018).
[8]
Petersen RC, Stevens JC, Ganguli M, Tangalos EG, Cummings JL, Dekosky ST, et al. Practice parameter: Early detection of dementia: Mild Cognitive Impairment (an evicence-based review). Neurology 56: 1133-42. (2001).
[9]
Irish M, Lawlor BA, O’Mara SM, Coen RF. Exploring the recollective experience during autobiographical memory retrieval in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 16(3): 546-55. (2010).
[10]
Leyhe T, Müller S, Milian M, Eschweiler GW, Saur R. Impairment of episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia 47(12): 2464-9. (2009).
[11]
Murphy KJ, Troyer AK, Levine B, Moscovitch M. Episodic, but not semantic, autobiographical memory is reduced in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychologia 46(13): 3116-23. (2008).
[12]
Cabeza R, St Jacques P. Functional neuroimaging of autobiographical memory. Trends Cogn Sci 11(5): 219-27. (2007).
[13]
Teipel SJ, Wegrzyn M, Meindl T, et al. Anatomical MRI and DTI in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: a European multicenter study. J Alzheimers Dis 31(3): S33-47. (2012).
[14]
Hirjak D, Wolf RC, Remmele B, et al. Hippocampal formation alterations differently contribute to autobiographic memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Hippocampus 27(6): 702-15. (2017).
[15]
Bastin C, Feyers D, Jedidi H, et al. Episodic autobiographical memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: what are the neural correlates? Hum Brain Mapp 34(8): 1811-25. (2013).
[16]
Potheegadoo J, Cordier A, Berna F, Danion J-M. Effectiveness of a specific cueing method for improving autobiographical memory recall in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 152(1): 229-34. (2014).
[17]
Levine B, Svoboda E, Hay JF, Winocur G, Moscovitch M. Aging and autobiographical memory: dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval. Psychol Aging 17(4): 677-89. (2002).
[18]
Lalanne J, Gallarda T, Piolino P. “The Castle of Remembrance”: New insights from a cognitive training programme for autobiographical memory in Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychol Rehabil 25(2): 254-82. (2015).
[19]
Melendez JC, Torres M, Redondo R, Mayordomo T, Sales A. Effectiveness of follow-up reminiscence therapy on autobiographical memory in pathological ageing. Int J Psychol 52(4): 283-90. (2017).
[20]
Emsaki G, NeshatDoost HT, Tavakoli M, Barekatain M. Memory specificity training can improve working and prospective memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Dement Neuropsychol 11(3): 255-61. (2017).
[21]
Raes F, Williams JMG, Hermans D. Reducing cognitive vulnerability to depression: a preliminary investigation of MEmory Specificity Training (MEST) in inpatients with depressive symptomatology. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 40(1): 24-38. (2009).
[22]
Sherman DS, Mauser J, Nuno M, Sherzai D. The efficacy of cognitive intervention in mild cognitive impairment (MCI): a meta-analysis of outcomes on neuropsychological measures. Neuropsychol Rev 27(4): 440-84. (2017).
[23]
Silva AR, Pinho S, Macedo LM, Moulin CJ. Benefits of SenseCam review on neuropsychological test performance. Am J Prev Med 44(3): 302-7. (2013).
[24]
Silva AR, Pinho MS, Macedo L, Moulin CJA. A critical review of the effects of wearable cameras on memory. Neuropsychol Rehabil 28(1): 117-41. (2018).
[25]
Chow TE, Rissman J. Neurocognitive mechanisms of real-world autobiographical memory retrieval: insights from studies using wearable camera technology. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1396: 202-21. (2017).
[26]
Allé MC, Manning L, Potheegadoo J, Coutelle R, Danion J-M, Berna F. Wearable cameras are useful tools to investigate and remediate autobiographical memory impairment: a systematic PRISMA eeview. Neuropsychol Rev 27(1): 81-99. (2017).
[27]
Barnard PJ, Murphy FC, Carthery-goulart MT, Ramponi C, Clare L. Exploring the basis and boundary conditions of SenseCam-facilitated recollection. Memory 19(7): 758-68. (2011).
[28]
Loveday C, Conway MA. Using SenseCam with an amnesic patient: accessing inaccessible everyday memories. Memory 19(7): 697-704. (2011).
[29]
Gelonch O, Ribera M, Codern-Bové N, et al. Acceptability of a lifelogging wearable camera in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a mixed-method study. BMC Geriatr 19(1): 110. (2019).
[30]
Rami L, Valls-Pedret C, Bartrés-Faz D, et al. Cuestionario de reserva cognitiva. Valores obtenidos en poblacion anciana sana y con enfermedad de Alzheimer. Rev Neurol 52(4): 195-201. (2011).
[31]
Del Ser T, González-Montalvo JI, Martínez-Espinosa S, Delgado-Villapalos C, Bermejo F. Estimation of premorbid intelligence in Spanish people with the Word Accentuation Test and its application to the diagnosis of dementia. Brain Cogn 33(3): 343-56. (1997).
[32]
Zigmond AS, Snaith RP. The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand 67: 361-70. (1983).
[33]
Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. “Mini-mental state”. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 12(3): 189-98. (1975).
[34]
Wechsler D. WAIS-IV. Escala de inteligencia de Wechsler para adultos-IV. Manual técnico y de interpretación (2008).
[35]
Frisk V, Milner B. The role of the left hippocampal region in the acquisition and retention of story content. Neuropsychologia 28(4): 349-59. (1990).
[36]
Rzezak P, Lima EM, Gargaro AC, et al. Everyday memory impairment in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis. Epilepsy Behav 69: 31-6. (2017).
[37]
Cohen J. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd Edn. Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ (1988).
[38]
Belleville S, Clément F, Mellah S, Gilbert B, Fontaine F, Gauthier S. Training-related brain plasticity in subjects at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 134(6): 1623-34. (2011).
[39]
Cespón J, Miniussi C, Pellicciari MC. Interventional programmes to improve cognition during healthy and pathological ageing: Cortical modulations and evidence for brain plasticity. Ageing Res Rev 43: 81-98. (2018).
[40]
Meilán García JJ, Iodice R, Carro J, Sánchez JA, Palmero F, Mateos AM. Improvement of autobiographic memory recovery by means of sad music in Alzheimer’s Disease type dementia. Aging Clin Exp Res 24: 227-32. (2012).
[41]
Tomadesso C, Perrotin A, Mutlu J, et al. Brain structural, functional, and cognitive correlates of recent versus remote autobiographical memories in amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment. Neuroimage Clin 8: 473-82. (2015).
[42]
Dubourg L, Silva AR, Fitamen C, Moulin CJA, Souchay C. SenseCam: A new tool for memory rehabilitation? Rev Neurol (Paris) 172(12): 735-47. (2016).
[43]
Berry E, Hampshire A, Rowe J, et al. The neural basis of effective memory therapy in a patient with limbic encephalitis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 80(11): 1202-5. (2009).
[44]
Silva AR, Pinho MS, Macedo L, Moulin C, Caldeira S, Firmino H. It is not only memory: effects of sensecam on improving well-being in patients with mild alzheimer disease. Int Psychogeriatr 29(5): 741-54. (2017).
[45]
Woodberry E, Browne G, Hodges S, Watson P, Kapur N, Woodberry K. The use of a wearable camera improves autobiographical memory in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Memory 23(3): 340-9. (2015).
[46]
Mair A, Poirier M, Conway MA. Supporting older and younger adults’ memory for recent everyday events: A prospective sampling study using SenseCam. Conscious Cogn 49: 190-202. (2017).
[47]
Silva AR, Pinho MS, Macedo L, Moulin CJA. the cognitive effects of wearable cameras in mild alzheimer disease - an experimental study. Curr Alzheimer Res 14(12): 1270-82. (2017).
[48]
De Simone MS, Fadda L, Perri R, et al. Retrograde amnesia for episodic and semantic memories in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. J Alzheimers Dis 59(1): 241-50. (2017).
[49]
Tramoni E, Felician O, Koric L, Balzamo M, Joubert S, Ceccaldi M. Alteration of autobiographical memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Cortex 48(10): 1310-9. (2012).
[50]
Belleville S, Gilbert B, Fontaine F, Gagnon L, Ménard E, Gauthier S. Improvement of episodic memory in persons with mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults: evidence from a cognitive intervention program. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 22(5-6): 486-99. (2006).
[51]
Mendoza Laiz N, Del Valle Díaz S, Rioja Collado N, Gomez-Pilar J, Hornero R. Potential benefits of a cognitive training program in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Restor Neurol Neurosci 36(2): 207-13. (2018).
[52]
Lojo-Seoane C, Facal D, Guàrdia-Olmos J, Pereiro AX, Juncos-Rabadán O. Effects of cognitive reserve on cognitive performance in a follow-up study in older adults with subjective cognitive complaints. The role of working memory. Front Aging Neurosci 10: 1-13. (2018).
[53]
Rebok GW, Langbaum JBS, Jones RN, et al. Memory training in the ACTIVE study: how much is needed and who benefits? J Aging Health 25(8): 1-18. (2013).
[54]
Duff K, Lyketsos CG, Beglinger LJ, et al. Practice effects predict cognitive outcome in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 19(11): 932-9. (2011).
[55]
Hassenstab J, Ruvolo D, Jasielec M, Xiong C, Grant E, Morris JC. Absence of practice effects in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology 29(6): 940-8. (2015).

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy