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P4‐372: YEARS OF EDUCATION INFLUENCE PERFORMANCE IN A TEST OF ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY, BUT NOT A TEST OF NON‐ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY
Author(s) -
Flores-Vazquez Juan Francisco,
Contreras-López José Juan,
Castellanos-Maya Osvaldo,
Cruz-Contreras Cecilia,
Gómez-Martínez Rodrigo,
Andrés-Benito María del Pilar,
Acosta-Castillo Gilberto Isaac,
Sosa-Ortiz Ana Luisa,
Enriquez-Geppert Stefanie
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2019.06.4043
Subject(s) - episodic memory , content addressable memory , recall , psychology , cognitive reserve , association (psychology) , neuropsychology , cognition , test (biology) , cognitive psychology , associative property , associative learning , developmental psychology , audiology , cognitive impairment , medicine , neuroscience , computer science , artificial intelligence , paleontology , mathematics , artificial neural network , pure mathematics , biology , psychotherapist
ranging from 1 to 7. Participants completed triadic comparisons of animal names and an unexpected delayed free recall task of those animal names. Analyses included a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of semantic representation based on similarity judgments inferred from the triadic comparison data. We calculated a spatial statistic dependent on nearest-neighbor distances to quantify the degree of clustering in each semantic representation [Lee, Abramyan, & Shankle (2016). Behavior Research Methods, 48, 1492-1507]. We also calculated conditional response probabilities (CRP) from the free recall data. We visualized changes in nearest-neighbor distances, CRP, and the relationship between semantic similarity judgments and CRP as a function of FAST score in the clinical data set and of normal aging in the cognitively healthy participants. Results: For clinical patients, as FAST stage increases, semantic representations become less clustered (Figure 2) and CRPs are less related to semantic structure (Figure 3). We also found a curvilinear relationship between semantic similarity and CRP in early FAST stages, but this relationship is less evident as FAST stage increases (Figure 4). In cognitively healthy participants, a similar pattern emerges for ages greater than 70 years: semantic representations become less clustered, CRPs become more random, and the curvilinear relationship between semantic similarity and CRP diminishes (Figure 5). Conclusions: In a clinical population, semantic structure appears to break down as FAST stage increases. We see a similar change in semantic structure in a cognitively healthy population as age exceeds 70 years.