Search results for "Working memory"
showing 10 items of 315 documents
Benefit of hearing aid use in the elderly: the impact of age, cognition and hearing impairment
2018
Il beneficio protesico e il ruolo delle abilità cognitive, dell’età e del deficit uditivo nel paziente anziano.Questo studio analizza il beneficio protesico in un campione di soggetti anziani (n = 102, età media 81,1 anni), indagando il ruolo svolto dall’età, dal deficit uditivo e dalle abilità cognitive. Il beneficio protesico è stato valutato sia come miglioramento delle caratteristiche audiometriche con protesi (in termini di soglie tonali e soglie di percezione del parlato in quiete e nel rumore) sia come diminuzione della percezione della disabilità e dell’handicap dovuti alla ipoacusia. Sono state valutate diverse abilità cognitive, tra cui la memoria a breve termine, le funzioni esec…
Memory performance is related to the cortisol awakening response in older people, but not to the diurnal cortisol slope
2015
There are large individual differences in age-related cognitive decline. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) functioning has been suggested as one of the mechanisms underlying these differences. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between the diurnal cortisol cycle, measured as the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and the diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) and the memory performance of healthy older people. To do so, we assessed the verbal, visual, and working memory performance of 64 participants (32 men) from 57 to 76 years old who also provided 14 saliva samples on two consecutive weekdays to determine their diurnal cortisol cycle. The CAR was linearly and negatively…
The relationship between loneliness and cognition in healthy older men and women: The role of cortisol
2018
Abstract Loneliness has been associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older people, as well as a dysregulation of Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. In addition, it has been suggested that women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of loneliness on health. Our aim was to analyze the effect of HPA-axis functioning as a mediator in the relationship between loneliness and cognitive function, and interactions depending on sex, in healthy older people. To do so, 86 healthy older people (52.3% female) from 60 to 80 years old (M = 67.44, SD = 4.37) completed the revised UCLA loneliness scale. A neuropsychological battery was administered to …
Hair cortisol and cognitive performance in healthy older people
2013
Summary Worse cognitive performance in older people has been associated with hypothalamic—pituitary—adrenal axis dysregulation (in particular, higher cortisol levels). Analysis of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) is a novel method to measure long-term cortisol exposure, and its relationship with cognition in healthy older people has not yet been studied. We investigated whether HCC (measured in hair scalp) and diurnal salivary cortisol levels (awakening, 30 min after awakening, and evening, across two days) were related to cognitive performance (assessed with the Trail-making Test A and B, Digit Span Forward and Backward, word list-RAVLT and Stories subtest of the Rivermead) in 57 healthy…
Working memory resources in young children with mathematical difficulties.
2009
Working memory (WM) (Baddeley, 1986, 1997) is argued to be one of the most important cognitive resources underlying mathematical competence (Geary, 2004). Research has established close links between WM deficits and mathematical difficulties. This study investigated the possible deficits in WM, language and fluid intelligence that seem to characterize 4- to 6-year-old children with poor early mathematical skills before formal mathematics education. Children with early mathematical difficulties showed poor performance in both verbal and visuospatial WM tasks as well as on language tests and a fluid intelligence test indicating a thoroughly lower cognitive base. Poor WM performance was not mo…
Children with differing developmental trajectories of prelinguistic communication skills: language and working memory at age 5.
2014
Purpose In this article, the authors examine the developmental continuity from prelinguistic communication to kindergarten age in language and working memory capacity. Method Following work outlining 6 groups of children with different trajectories of early communication development (ECD; Määttä, Laakso, Tolvanen, Ahonen, & Aro, 2012), the authors examined their later development by psychometric assessment. Ninety-one children first assessed at ages 12–21 months completed a battery of language and working memory tests at age 5;3 (years;months). Results Two of the ECD groups previously identified as being at risk for language difficulties continued to show weaker performance at follow-u…
A Two-Phase Model of Resource Allocation in Visual Working Memory
2017
Two broad theories of visual working memory (VWM) storage have emerged from current research, a discrete slot-based theory and a continuous resource theory. However, neither the discrete slot-based theory or continuous resource theory clearly stipulates how the mental commodity for VWM (discrete slot or continuous resource) is allocated. Allocation may be based on the number of items via stimulus-driven factors, or it may be based on task demands via voluntary control. Previous studies have obtained conflicting results regarding the automaticity versus controllability of such allocation. In the current study, we propose a two-phase allocation model, in which the mental commodity could be al…
Centre-embedded structures are a by-product of associative learning and working memory constraints: Evidence from baboons (Papio Papio)
2012
International audience; Influential theories have claimed that the ability for recursion forms the computational core of human language faculty distinguishing our communication system from that of other animals (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). In the present study, we consider an alternative view on recursion by studying the contribution of associative and working memory processes. After an intensive paired-associate training with visual shapes, we observed that baboons spontaneously ordered their responses in keeping with a recursive, centre-embedded structure. This result suggests that the human ability for recursion might partly if not entirely originate from fundamental processing cons…
Perceptual Priming and Reading Speed among Fourth Grade Children
2014
AbstractThis study evaluated the perceptual priming in fourth grade primary school children using a word-fragment completion task. The children were classified into two categories according to their reading speed: high and low. Using several sub-scales of the WISC-IV, their working memory was measured, and their total IQ was estimated, in order to control for their effects on priming. The statistical analyses showed that children with high reading speed were significantly better at word-fragment completion and showed greater priming (p < .01); in other words, the prior processing of the words from which the fragments came produced a greater benefit in the performance of the word-fragment…
Retro-dimension-cue benefit in visual working memory
2016
AbstractIn visual working memory (VWM) tasks, participants’ performance can be improved by a retro-object-cue. However, previous studies have not investigated whether participants’ performance can also be improved by a retro-dimension-cue. Three experiments investigated this issue. We used a recall task with a retro-dimension-cue in all experiments. In Experiment 1, we found benefits from retro-dimension-cues compared to neutral cues. This retro-dimension-cue benefit is reflected in an increased probability of reporting the target, but not in the probability of reporting the non-target, as well as increased precision with which this item is remembered. Experiment 2 replicated the retro-dime…