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Background Traditional teaching methods via faculty lectures and text-based materials lack interactivity. Hence, this research aimed to compare the effectiveness of story-based audiovisual mnemonics and the conventional text-reading method on medical students’ memory consolidation. Methods A single-center, systematically randomly sampled, single-blinded, controlled study was conducted among 80 first-year medical students. The students were randomly assigned to the text-reading (control) or story-based audiovisual mnemonics (intervention) group. After completing the learning session, the participants immediately took a test that consisted of ten multiple-choice questions, each of which had one correct single-response answer, and an oral recall test that consisted of ten keywords based on the given topics. The test was repeated at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks post intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to assess the participants’ responses. The mean score difference between the audiovisual mnemonics and control groups was determined by using a two-tailed unpaired t-test. Results The participants in the intervention group had statistically significant higher marks in the multiple-choice test as compared to the participants in the control group. The intervention group also spent a statistically significant shorter time to recall keywords in the oral recall test in comparison to the control group. Conclusion The story-based audiovisual mnemonics method is more effective than the conventional text-reading method in promoting memory retention among medical students.

Human memory has been studied for several years. But due to its complex nature, the quest to understand properties/processes associated with it never fades. It has many properties, and one of them is its reconstructive nature. The vulnerability of false memories is not only dependent on exogenous factors (for example deep processing, retention intervals, list items, characteristics). Instead, it is also reliant on endogenous factors (for example age, emotions, mood state, arousal level), as well as with some personality factors. This study explores the idea that personality learning styles viz. field-independent and field-dependent influence the formation of false memory on the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. The study reports that on recall test, field-dependent learners identify more critical lures as compared to filed independent learners. In the recognition test, the sensitivity of critical lures was found to be more in field-dependent individuals than field-independent. The response biases were conservative in critical lure recognition.

Background/aim Physical frailty is thought to be related with a decline in cognitive function, mood, and social activities, especially in patients with depression and dementia. It is not clear whether or not physical frailty is associated with an impairment in cognitive function and mood in patients without dementia and depression. In this study, we evaluated the association of physical frailty with cognitive function and mood in geriatric patients without dementia and depression. Material and methods In this study, 612 patients aged 65 years and over were evaluated. Physical frailty was assessed by using Fried criteria. Furthermore, comprehensive geriatric assessment was performed to each patient. Results Median age of the patients was 72 years (min-max: 65–93), 58% were female, and 6.5% were frail. Clock drawing (p < 0.001), MMSE (p < 0.001), and Yesevage geriatric depression scale (p: 0.010) test results were worse in frail patients compared to pre-frail and robust ones. Age (p: 0.009), being university graduate (p: 0.031), three words recall test (p: 0.014), activities of daily living (ADL) (p: 0.006), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) (p < 0.001), and MNA-SF (p: 0.001) scores were determined to be independent related factors of frailty. Conclusion We have demonstrated that cognitive function and mood might be associated with physical frailty in patients without dementia and depression.

Performing a successful microsurgical vascular anastomosis (MVA) is challenging and requires lots of practice. However, the most efficient practice protocol is yet to be found. We aimed to compare and analyze two major practice patterns for fine motor tasks as applied to learning MVA: distributed and mass practice protocols. Ten neurosurgeons with comparable experience in microsurgery (but no experience in vascular anastomosis) were randomized to practice MVA either using a distributed (1 session/day) or a mass practice (6 sessions/day) protocol. A total of 24 sessions of practice and 2 recall test sessions were given. Anastomosis score, time to complete a single stitch and the total time to complete an anastomosis were recorded. Mass practice protocol caused a clear fatigue effect observed toward the end of each mass practice trial block. Statistical comparison using one-way analysis of variance showed significantly higher anastomosis scores and shorter times to place a single stitch as well as to complete the anastomosis in distributed practice group for the last 3 acquisition practice trials, and the 2 recall tests (p 0.05). The relative advantage of the distributed practice protocol could be attributed to forgetting/spacing effect. Although mass practice protocol resulted in worse performance, it still showed a gradual improvement trend in performance from beginning to the end. Therefore, certain adjustments to a mass practice protocol (such as increasing the number of practice blocks) could potentially lead to an eventual performance level comparable to a distributed protocol. This point is a subject of further investigation.

This paper investigates the effects of watching an entire season of a French series with the streaming service Netflix in an out-of-classroom context. University Dutch-speaking low- to high-intermediate learners of French were divided into two groups: a control group who only took the tests (N = 37) and a treatment group (N = 65). Learners in the treatment group watched six episodes with glossed captions provided by the Chrome extension Language Learning with Netflix (i.e., they could access the meaning of the words in the captions whenever they wanted) within a maximum of 21 days. We examined learners’ incidental vocabulary learning gains by means of a form and meaning recall test and also analysed learning gains in relation to different variables: word-related factors, the use of glossed captions and learners’ vocabulary size. Results revealed that participants recalled approximately 35% of the word meanings and 28% of the word forms. Besides, learning gains were positively influenced by the use of the glossed captions as well as vocabulary size scores. Findings also demonstrated that frequency of occurrence positively impacted learning gains, especially when target words appeared more concentrated in one episode rather than across different ones. DOI geeft geen resultaat, klopt wel volgens site journal ispartof: Computer Assisted Language Learning vol:36 issue:1-2 pages:26-51 status: Published online

BACKGROUND Both the quality of sleep and depression impact short-term memory (STM) while they influence each other. However, the underlying mechanisms are not yet clear. Herein, we aimed to explore the mediating effect of depression between sleep quality and STM in older adults and further test the gender differences in this relationship. METHODS A cluster sampling survey was carried out among 903 residents that were aged 60+ years in a semi-closed island of Xiamen, China, in 2019. The subjects' sleep quality and depression were measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), respectively. The three-item recall test was utilized to measure STM function. Mediation analyses were performed using the structural equation model and bias-corrected bootstrap method. Next, the Wald-test was utilized to determine gender differences in the pathway. RESULTS Overall, 355 men and 508 women, with a mean age of 69.55 and 70.97, respectively, had valid data on the main variables. Depression was found to mediate the effect of sleep quality on STM (a*b = -0.076, p

The current study compared the assessment of memory with a translated story recall test and its original published norms and an equivalent local test with local norms. Analyses used data from 232 individuals with memory complaints who underwent neuropsychological evaluation at an outpatient memory clinic. One group of participants completed a translated test (

Objectives: The objective of this study was to find the influence of desynchronized circadian rhythm on working memory, concentration, and divided attention among pink collar shift workers of KLE Hospital as offering 24-h emergency health-care services and hospital care for critical patients by working in shifts can lead to circadian misalignment which can further impair alertness and deteriorate the performance, increase the medical errors and can negatively impact shift workers' health and quality of patient care. Materials and Methods: Rey–Osterrieth complex figure test (ROCF) was performed to assess working memory by visual-spatial constructional ability and visual memory. Symbol digit modality test (SDMT) was conducted to assess concentration ability by divided attention, visual scanning, tracking, and motor speed. Following which, a recall test was conducted without any prior warning. Statistical analysis was performed by mean ± SD, unpaired t-test and P-value. Results: Shift workers’ and controls’ scores expressed as (mean score ± SD), respectively, were in ROCF copy test (33.52 ± 3.45) and (35.04 ± 3.45), in ROCF recall test (19.68 ± 3.71) and (26.6 ± 2.37), and SDMT correct scores were (49.16 ± 2.34) and (58.6 ± 4.11), SDMT error scores were (1.4 ± 2.32) and (1 ± 1.24), while SDMT total score was (50.56 ± 3.32) and (59.6 ± 5.65). Conclusion: Results obtained showed that the mean score for copy test in shift workers was comparatively low but not significant, while in recall test, it was significantly lower indicating lower accuracy to perform a task. Furthermore, their working memory was significantly affected. In the SDMT, the mean correct score was lower, the error score was slightly higher and the total score was significantly lower in shift workers, indicating lower accuracy to perform tasks involving concentration and attention, lower concentration and a significantly lesser speed while performing tasks.

Several studies have evaluated the distribution of visuo-spatial attention in a wayfinding task, using gaze direction as an indicator for the locus of attention. We extended that work by evaluating how visuo-spatial attention is modified by wayfinding practice. Young and older participants followed prescribed routes through a virtual city on six trials. Each trial was followed by a route recall test, where participants saw screenshots of intersections encountered, and had to indicate which way to proceed. Behavioral and gaze data were registered in those tests. Wayfinding accuracy increased from trial to trial, more so in young than in older persons. Total gaze time, mean fixation time, and the vertical scatter of fixations decreased from trial to trial, similarly in young and older persons. The horizontal scatter of fixations did not differ between trials and age groups. The incidence of fixations on the subsequently chosen side also did not differ between trials, but it increased in older age. We interpret these findings as evidence that as wayfinding practice increased, participants gradually narrowed their attentional focus to the most relevant screenshot area, processed information within this focus more efficiently, reduced the total time in which attention dwelled on the rejected side of the screenshot, but maintained the total time on the chosen side. These dynamic changes of visuo-spatial attention were comparable in young and older participants. However, it appears that decision-making differed between age groups: older persons’ attention dwelled longer on the chosen side before they made their choice.

Some previous research has determined that mindfulness meditation improves cognitive abilities, whereas other research has observed impairments in cognitive processes after mindfulness meditation. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness (guided body scan), mind-wandering, and breathing-focused meditation on susceptibility to false memories. Participants studied 6 Deese-Roediger-McDermott word lists and completed a recall test after each list. They then received one of the three meditation interventions and then studied 6 more DRM word lists, again with a recall test after each. Twenty-four hours later, participants completed a recognition test. Our results suggest that the meditation intervention reduced delayed correct and false recognition, but had no effect on immediate correct or false recall. Despite following a similar procedure, we failed to replicate findings of previous research. Potential explanations for this discrepancy are discussed, including adoption of a conservative response strategy and possible mood influence of the presented list items.

This study examined the influence of same-age and mixed-age dyads on the collaborative inhibition effect (reduced recall in collaborative groups compared to the combined recall of the same number people who recall individually). Younger (age 18-25) and older (age 65+) adults recalled categorized word lists alone or in collaboration with a same-age or a different-age partner. On an initial recall test, the magnitude of collaborative inhibition for veridical recall was similar across dyads, regardless of age. However, age differences emerged in false recall as older adults were less likely to correct each other's errors than younger adults in same-age dyads. Older adults in same-age dyads continued to demonstrate greater false recall on a subsequent recall test, but there were no lasting costs of collaboration on subsequent recall or recognition for same-age or mixed-age dyads. Mixed-age dyads were more likely to provide a simple acknowledgment and less likely to remain silent in response to partner suggestions than were same-age partners, however, this did not affect the magnitude of collaborative inhibition. Any lasting effects of collaboration are invariant across same-age and mixed-age partners. The results demonstrate age-invariance of the retrieval strategy disruption theory and highlight collaborative process variables as complementary mechanisms of collaborative inhibition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Background The effect of context on speech processing has been studied using different speech materials and response criteria. The Repeat-Recall Test (RRT) evaluates listener performance using high context (HC) and low context (LC) sentences; this may offer another platform for studying context use (CU). Objective This article aims to evaluate if the RRT may be used to study how different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), hearing aid technologies (directional microphone and noise reduction), and listener working memory capacities (WMCs) interact to affect CU on the different measures of the RRT. Design Double-blind, within-subject repeated measures design. Study Sample Nineteen listeners with a mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss. Data Collection The RRT was administered with participants wearing the study hearing aids under two microphone (omnidirectional vs. directional) by two noise reduction (on vs. off) conditions. Speech was presented from 0 degree at 75 dB sound pressure level and a continuous speech-shaped noise from 180 degrees at SNRs of 0, 5, 10, and 15 dB. The order of SNR and hearing aid conditions was counterbalanced across listeners. Each test condition was completed twice in two 2-hour sessions separated by 1 month. Results CU was calculated as the difference between HC and LC sentence scores for each outcome measure (i.e., repeat, recall, listening effort, and tolerable time). For all outcome measures, repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that CU was significantly affected by the SNR of the test conditions. For repeat, recall, and listening effort measures, these effects were qualified by significant two-way interactions between SNR and microphone mode. In addition, the WMC group significantly affected CU during recall and rating of listening effort, the latter of which was qualified by an interaction between the WMC group and SNR. Listener WMC affected CU on estimates of tolerable time as qualified by significant two-way interactions between SNR and microphone mode. Conclusion The study supports use of the RRT as a tool for measuring how listeners use sentence context to aid in speech processing. The degree to which context influenced scores on each outcome measure of the RRT was found to depend on complex interactions between the SNR of the listening environment, hearing aid features, and the WMC of the listeners.

This study investigates incidental vocabulary learning through captioned or subtitled videos and examines whether and how different learner- (prior vocabulary knowledge) and word-related factors (i.e., frequency of occurrence, cognateness, and imagery) influence learning gains from watching videos. Low-intermediate Dutch-speaking learners of French (N=86) took part in a four week intervention program. They were assigned to a subtitles group, a captions group, or a control group (who only took the tests). Vocabulary learning was measured by means of form and meaning recognition, as well as meaning recall tests. Results revealed that participants learned approximately 15% of the vocabulary they could have learned. Both treatment groups outperformed the control group in the meaning recognition test, but only the captions group outperformed the control group in the meaning recall test. Learning gains were mediated by cognateness with significantly higher odds to recall and recognize a cognate on the posttest than a noncognate. Frequency of occurrence and prior vocabulary knowledge had a positive effect on L2 learners’ ability to recall and recognize the meaning of the target words. A positive relationship was also found between target words that were visually represented in the video and learners’ meaning recognition scores for those words. ispartof: Calico Journal vol:37 issue:3 pages:233-253 status: published

Objective The correlation among the thyroid-related hormones, Apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4) and cognitive function has been reported despite controversial results. This study was designed to investigate this correlation among cognitively-normal elderly dwellers.Methods This study assessed 507 cognitively normal individuals aged over 60 who underwent comprehensive hematological and neuropsychological assessments including the quantification of serum free thyroxine and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) as well as the Korean version of the Consortium Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s disease. The Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale was also employed to evaluate the severity of depression. Age, gender, education, and the presence of APOE ε4 were taken into account as covariates.Results There was a significant positive association between verbal fluency test (VFT), Word List Memory Test (WLMT), and Word List Recall Test (WLRT) score and serum TSH levels (p=0.007, 0.031, and 0.023 respectively). The further analysis adding the interaction between APOE ε4 and TSH level, however, revealed only VFT score was significantly influenced by this interaction (p=0.026).Conclusion Lower serum TSH levels had impacts on both semantic memory (VFT) and episodic memory (WLMT, WLRT) among cognitively-normal elderly, whereas the interaction of TSH and APOE ε4 influenced only the task of semantic memory (VFT) in this group.

Objective: We evaluated whether memory recall following an extended (1 week) delay predicts cognitive and brain structural trajectories in older adultsMethod:Clinically normal older adults (52–92 years old) were followed longitudinally for up to 8 years after completing a memory paradigm at baseline [Story Recall Test (SRT)] that assessed delayed recall at 30 min and 1 week. Subsets of the cohort underwent neuroimaging (N = 134, mean age = 75) and neuropsychological testing (N = 178–207, mean ages = 74–76) at annual study visits occurring approximately 15–18 months apart. Mixed-effects regression models evaluated if baseline SRT performance predicted longitudinal changes in gray matter volumes and cognitive composite scores, controlling for demographics.Results:Worse SRT 1-week recall was associated with more precipitous rates of longitudinal decline in medial temporal lobe volumes (p = .037), episodic memory (p = .003), and executive functioning (p = .011), but not occipital lobe or total gray matter volumes (demonstrating neuroanatomical specificity; p > .58). By contrast, SRT 30-min recall was only associated with longitudinal decline in executive functioning (p = .044).Conclusions:Memory paradigms that capture longer-term recall may be particularly sensitive to age-related medial temporal lobe changes and neurodegenerative disease trajectories. (JINS, 2020, xx, xx-xx)

The processing of negative emotion memory is a key factor influencing human mental health and the ability to manipulate negative emotion memory is crucial for mental health. It is beneficial for individuals to be highly motivated to successfully forget an unpleasant experience. However, people with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often show an imbalance in voluntary memory manipulation. They are unable to regulate memories of emotions and are exposed to negative emotions for a longer time, which over time will lead to greater damage to both physical and mental health. Witnessing moral violation may induce negative emotions in real life, but it is still unknown if when faced with memories of negative emotions associated with moral violation content, whether the process of suppression and recall manipulation would be different for non-moral content. A previous study found that overnight sleep could weaken the effect of suppression on memory. In the present study, we first selected 120 pictures and recruited participants to rate their emotional arousal, valence, and morality on a 9-point scale in an online survey. After selecting and matching negative emotional stimuli with similar emotional arousal and valence and distinguishable morality (non-moral vs. moral-violation) in the online ratings, 28 participants were required to remember the stimuli paired with the cue objects after two days’ training (overnight sleep vs. newly acquired condition) and then they had a think/no-think task (TNT) (recall vs. suppression vs. baseline) to intuitively suppress and recall these pairs. After the TNT task, a recall test was conducted to record vocal memory performance, which was scored by three scorers. The scorer reliability was measured, and showed high quality. We determined the recall score by computing the difference between recall accuracy and baseline accuracy, and found the suppression score to be the difference between suppression accuracy and baseline accuracy. Then a 2×2×2 repeated measures ANOVA with within-subject factors of training time, cue manipulation, and morality was performed. The results of the repeated measures ANOVA and the paired t -test analyses showed that memory could be adjusted through conscious cue manipulation, and negative memory with different moral content had significantly different manipulation effects. Specifically, in the newly acquired condition, the recall score in non-moral memory was significantly higher than both zero and the recall score in moral violation, while the suppression score in moral violation memory was both significantly lower than zero and marginally lower than the suppression score in non-moral pairs. Additionally, compared with the newly acquired condition, both the memory enhanced effect in the non-moral pairs and the memory forgotten effect in the moral violation memory pairs faded in the overnight sleep condition. Our findings revealed that both the retrieval of non-moral content and the suppression of moral violation content in negative emotion memories were significant when newly acquired; and overnight sleep could eliminate the influences of retrieval and suppression manipulation. These results manifest the effects of morality on negative emotion memory which can be weakened by overnight sleep consolidation. The present study extends our understanding of how moral emotional memories are stored, retrieved, and repressed after sleep.

Purpose Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory systemic disease associated with various degrees of impairment across different cognitive domains. We aimed to provide a detailed computerized investigation of verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory (dys)functions in RA patients, assessing both accuracy and response speed, while relating them to age, disease-related activity, affective problems, psychomotor speed and other clinical parameters. Patients and methods The study included 29 RA patients (mean age 50.6 ± 12.3 years, 79% female) and 30 controls (matched according to age, gender and education), assessed with short-term and working memory tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA). Results RA patients were significantly slower on the basic processing speed test (Motor Screening Test, p =0.003). Their short-term information storage (verbal and visuospatial) was comparable to controls, yet this similar accuracy came at the expense of a longer response time to retain information correctly (on spatial span, p = 0.04). On tasks with higher executive demands, both visuospatial and verbal working memory were compromised, as RA patients took longer (p = 0.004) and had a higher number of total errors (p = 0.02) when conducting a strategic memory-guided search (Spatial Working Memory), and had a significantly lower verbal working memory span on the backwards digit recall test (p = 0.02). Conclusion The findings of this study emphasize the usefulness of performing computerized tests to detect subtle signs of cognitive impairment and of intact performance, which can inform memory training protocols for this vulnerable population.

Background: Handouts make the lectures “portable and enduring”. Students’ performance, can vary depending on the type of handouts. Complete handouts are one which contains 100% content of the lecture and incomplete hand-outs are one which contains 75% of the lecture content. Note taking by students is generally seen as an integral part of the process of learning from lectures. But it interferes with ability to listen. Writing in the blank spaces in hand-out during a lecture may not interfere with listening ability and allow students to be alert and active, and learn by writing. Objectives: To asses and to know the perception of 2nd year MBBS student on the usefulness of incomplete handouts over complete handouts in pathology lectures.Methodology: It is an intervention study done in 41 students of 2nd MBBS in pathology lectures, where the complete handout given to the students on the day of lecture and after the class a recall test was conducted. After 1week a retention test was conducted. Similar intervention was done for the incomplete handout. Pre validated MCQs was used. The feedback was taken at the end of the study.Results: study showed the results in MCQ scores for incomplete handout (mean=5.73+1.24) is better than complete handout MCQ scores (mean=3.61+1.51) and the majority of students felt that incomplete handouts increased their motivation in learning and helped in understanding pathology.Conclusion: Majority of student perception towards the use of incomplete handouts was more than the complete handouts. The effectiveness of incomplete handouts is also shown better than complete handoout.

BACKGROUND Eggs are an affordable food providing many shortfall nutrients with the potential to improve cognitive health. We assessed the relationship between whole egg consumption and cognitive functioning among a US nationally representative sample of older adults. METHODS Individual-level data (2816 adults, aged ≥ 60 years) were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 waves. Cognitive assessments included the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Word List Learning Test (CERAD-WL), Word List Recall Test (CERAD-DR), Animal Fluency Test (AF) and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). A composite cognitive z-score was constructed based on the individual tests to represent one's overall cognitive functioning. Multiple linear and logistic regressions were performed to examine the effect of whole egg consumption on cognitive functioning, adjusting for individual characteristics and survey design. RESULTS Approximately 57% of older adults consumed whole eggs, with an average daily intake of 34 g of whole egg equivalent among consumers. The average z-scores of the CERAD-WL, CERAD-DR, AF and DSST tests were -0.08, 0.23, 0.37 and 0.42, respectively, and the overall composite cognitive z-score was 0.24 among older adults. Regression analyses found that neither whole egg consumption status, nor daily intake quantity was associated with cognitive test scores. CONCLUSIONS No association was found between whole egg consumption and cognitive functioning among US older adults. Study limitations included cross-sectional study design and measurement errors. Future studies with longitudinal or experimental design are warranted to examine the possible link between egg consumption and cognition in older adults.

Background: Early mild neurocognitive disorder (mild NCD) detection can allow for appropriate planning and delay disease progression. There have been few studies examining validated mild NCD detection tools. One such tool that may be of use is the Mini-Cog, which consists of the clock drawing test (CDT) and three-item recall. Methods: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic properties of the Mini-Cog, the CDT alone, and the three-item recall test alone in mild NCD detection according to DSM-5 criteria. The participants were older patients attending the medicine outpatient clinic. Area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) analysis was used to compare the tools’ accuracy. Results: A total of 150 patients were enrolled, 42 of whom were diagnosed as having mild NCD. The AUCs of ROC curves of the three-item recall, CDT, Mini-Cog1, and Mini-Cog2 were 0.71, 0.67, 0.73, and 0.71, respectively (p = 0.36). The sensitivity of the tools was 85.7%, 66.7%, 57.4%, and 69% respectively. The tests performed similarly in participants with ≤6 years of education (p = 0.27) and those with &gt, 6 years of education (p = 0.49). Conclusions: All tools exhibited similar acceptable performance in detecting mild NCD and were not affected by education. These convenient tools might be suitable for use in clinical practice.

While research has identified several practice variables that purportedly enhance motor learning, recent replication failures highlight the importance of conducting high-powered, pre-registered replications. The "expecting to teach" phenomenon was first reported in the motor learning literature by Daou and colleagues and suggested learners benefit from practicing with the understanding they will later need to teach the skill. The extant data have been mixed but generally positive. While expecting to teach has been shown to enhance motor learning of a golf putt, the mechanisms linked with this benefit are yet to be determined. As such, this study sought to replicate the expecting to teach effect and to extend those findings by exploring participants’ thought processes. Participants (N = 76) were randomly assigned to one of two groups in which they were told that they were learning a golf putt in order to 1) be tested on the skill or 2) teach the skill to another individual. On Day 1, participants completed pre-test putts, a pre-acquisition intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI), a 2-minute study of an instructional booklet, 50 practice putts and a post-acquisition IMI. During practice, participants were also afforded opportunities to continue studying the booklet and to complete additional putts. Participants returned 24 hours later to complete a retention, a transfer (50-cm longer golf-putt), and a free recall test, as well as a post-study survey to reveal thoughts they engaged in after practice but before (or during) the retention test. Similar to Daou et al., no significant differences were found with study time, number of acquisition putts, or motivation. However, golf-putting performance during retention resulted in no differences for radial error, g = -0.13 (95% C.I. [-0.55, 0.29]), between the two groups and no differences were shown for the recall test. The present study fails to replicate the benefits reported in the original experiments.

Introduction The inclusion of interesting but irrelevant details in instructional materials may interfere with recall and application of the core content. Although this seductive detail effect is well researched, recent research highlights factors that may influence the effect size. Objectives The current study discusses confounds and methodological issues in the study of seductive details and outlines strategies for overcoming them. These practices were then applied in a study that examined the role of learning objectives on the seductive detail effect. Methods Seductive details were selected on the basis of interest and importance level and matched for word count and reading level. The 3 × 2 between‐subjects design presented 132 undergraduate students with a lesson on plate tectonics; participants completed tests on both recall and transfer. Results Results did not reveal a consistent detrimental effect of high‐interest details on core content recall and transfer. On the recall test, contrary to expectation, the seductive detail effect obtained only when objectives were provided. A similar pattern emerged on the transfer task. Conclusion These findings highlight the difficulty of consistently eliciting the seductive detail effect. We discuss outstanding issues that must be addressed in order to develop practical guidelines on the inclusion of seductive details in educational materials., The current study discusses confounds and methodological issues in the study of seductive details and outlines strategies for overcoming them. These practices were then applied in a study that examined the role of learning objectives on the seductive detail effect, using details selected on the basis of interest and importance level and matched for word count and reading level. Results did not reveal a consistent detrimental effect of high‐interest details on core content recall and transfer.

Long-term memory is sensitive to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but little is known about the relative influence of these two sources of motivation on memory performance across the adult life span. The study examined the effects of extrinsic motivation, manipulated via monetary reward, and curiosity, a form of intrinsic motivation, on long-term memory in healthy younger and older adults. During the incidental encoding phase on Day 1, 60 younger and 53 older participants viewed high- and low-curiosity trivia items as well as unrelated face stimuli. Half of the participants in each age group received financial rewards for correctly guessing trivia answers. On Day 2, participants completed a trivia recall test and an old-new recognition test for the face stimuli. Both curiosity and reward were associated with enhanced trivia recall, but the effects were interactive, such that only low-curiosity items benefitted from monetary reward. Neither curiosity nor reward affected face recognition performance in either age group. These findings indicate that the individual and joint effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on long-term memory are relatively preserved in healthy aging, a finding that highlights the viability of motivational strategies for memory enhancement into old age. Identifying conditions under which memory for unrelated information benefits from motivational spillover effects in younger and older adults is a priority for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Physical activity has an unquestionable impact on broadly understood human health. One interesting issue related to this is the importance of movement on mental health and cognitive functioning. Research shows that regular physical activity improves the cognitive functioning of adults and people with mental disorders. Regular physical activity can be an important and powerful protective factor in cognitive impairment and dementia in the elderly, and exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment for mild cognitive impairment or neurodegenerative diseases. This study aims to present the impact of physical activity on selected cognitive functions in physically active women over 60 years of age. The research was carried out in a group of 110 generally healthy women from the area of western Poland over 60 years of age, who were divided into four groups based on the intensity of their physical activity. A pedometer (sport watch) and a physical activity diary were used to measure physical activity. Body Mass Index was assessed. Selected cognitive functions were assessed using the MMSE test, motor and psychomotor skills were measured, and Luria’s auditory memory test and recall test, a clock drawing test, and a GDS test were performed. There were statistically significant relationships between the level of physical activity and the effectiveness of cognitive processes. These results show that about 5000 steps a day is enough to see a positive effect on the mental health and cognitive functioning of this group of the elderly population. The women had an average BMI of 28.1 ± 4.7. BMI, indicating an overweight condition (over 30 kg/m2), was observed in 31% of women. The results of this study lead the authors to conclude that physical activity positively influences cognitive function and can be recommended for all seniors who do not have other serious comorbidities that would prevent them from playing sports.

In two experiments (N = 200), we compared the effects of longhand note-taking, photographing lecture materials with a smartphone camera, and not taking any notes on video-recorded lecture learning. Experiment 1 revealed a longhand-superiority effect: Longhand note-takers outperformed photo-takers and control learners on a recall test, notwithstanding an equal opportunity to review their learning material right before being tested, and even when photo-takers and control participants reviewed an exact transcript of the lecture slides via their photos or printouts, whereas longhand note-takers accessed only a fraction of the content as captured in their handwritten notes. Photo-takers performed comparably to learners who had not taken any notes at all. Experiment 2 further showed that mind-wandering mediates the mnemonic benefits of longhand note-taking: Relative to learners who took photos or did not take any notes, longhand note-takers mind-wandered less and, in turn, demonstrated superior retention of the lecture content. Yet, across both experiments, learners were not cognizant of the advantages of longhand note-taking, but misjudged all three techniques to be equally effective. These findings point to key attentional differences between longhand note-taking and photo-taking that impact learning-knowledge that is easily and conveniently acquired in a snap may not be better remembered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the ReVeReTM word list recall test (RWLRT), which uses speech recognition, when administered remotely and unsupervised. Methods Prospective cohort study. Participants included 249 cognitively intact community dwelling older adults. Measures included clinician administered neuropsychological assessments at baseline and unsupervised remotely administered tests of cognition from six time-points over sixmonths. Results The RWLRT showed acceptable validity. Reliability coefficients varied across time points, with poor reliability between times 1 and 2 and fair-to-good reliability across the remaining five testing sessions. Practice effects were observed with repeated administration as expected. Discussion Unsupervised computerized tests of cognition, particularly word list learning and memory tests that use speech recognition, have significant potential for large scale early detection and long-term tracking of cognitive decline due to AD.

While ERP studies have shown heightened early visual attention to conditioned threat, it is unknown whether this attentional prioritization is sustained throughout later processing stages and whether it is robust to extinction. To investigate sustained visual attention, we assessed visuocortical alpha suppression in response to conditioned and extinguished threat. N = 87 male participants underwent a two-day threat conditioning paradigm with acquisition and extinction on one day and a critical recall test one day later. EEG time-frequency analyses revealed that, on Day 2, threat-conditioned vs. safety cues evoked stronger occipital alpha power suppression from 600 to 1200 ms. Notably, this suppression was resistant to extinction. The present study showed for the first time that threat conditioning enhances sustained modulation of visuocortical attention to threat in the long term. The long-term stability and extinction resistance of alpha suppression suggests a crucial role of visuocortical attention mechanisms in the maintenance of learned fears. Significance Statement The present study highlights how selective attentional mechanisms may contribute to the long-term stability of learned fearful behaviors via increased recruitment of early visual cortex areas. Participants were classically conditioned to learn about threat cues predicting an aversive noise and safety cues. As evident in sustained occipital alpha suppression in the EEG – a marker for visuocortical recruitment – individuals showed selectively increased attention to threat cues in a recall test one day after initial conditioning. Importantly, this effect was not affected by intermediate extinction training, where threat cues were not followed aversive noises. Our findings are important for understanding the development and long-term maintenance of fears as well as etiology and therapy of anxiety disorders.

Cognitive frailty — the coexistence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment—is a phenotype of frailty in the elderly. The coexistence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment, known as cognitive frailty, is one of the phenotypes of frailty in the elderly. Cognitive frailty predicts adverse health outcome more accurately than does physical frailty. In this study, we aim to determine whether the polypharmacy common among the elderly is linked with cognitive frailty. The elderly, aged between 70 and 84 years, who participated in the cross-sectional Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study were included in the present study. Polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy were defined as the use of at least five and ten medications, respectively. Physical frailty was assessed by the Korean version of the FRAIL scale, and cognitive status was measured by the Trail Making Test part A, word list recall test, the Korean version of the Frontal Assessment Battery, and the Digit Span Backward test. Among the 2,392 participants, 26.8% and 4.1% took more than five and ten prescribed medications, respectively. Polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy participants tend to have more cognitive impairment and physical frailty. Participants with cognitive frailty had the highest polypharmacy rate regardless of medication type. After controlling for the potential confounders including severity of comorbidities, frailty was found to be significantly related to polypharmacy, as defined by prescribed as well as total medications, including non-prescribed medications. However, cognitive impairment only showed a linkage to polypharmacy of prescribed medications, which—according to the results of multivariable analysis— could increase cognitive frailty, with an odds ratio of 2.70. Although the elderly tend to depend on various medications, they should seriously consider the risk of polypharmacy for better health outcomes.

Background Mixed reality (MR) technology, which combines the best features of augmented reality and virtual reality, has recently emerged as a promising tool in cognitive rehabilitation therapy. Objective To investigate the effectiveness of an MR-based cognitive training system for individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Twenty-one individuals aged 65 years and older who had been diagnosed with MCI were recruited for this study and were divided into two groups. Participants in the MR group (n=10, aged 70.5±4.2 years) received 30 minutes of training 3 times a week for 6 weeks using a newly developed MR-based cognitive training system. Participants in the control group (n=11, aged 72.6±5.3 years) received the same amount of training using a conventional computer-assisted cognitive training system. Both groups took the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-K) both before and after intervention. To determine the effect of the intervention on cognitive function, we compared the difference in each group's CERAD-K scores. Results There was a statistically significant interaction between intervention (MR group vs control group) and time (before vs after intervention) as assessed by the Constructional Recall Test. The individuals with MCI who participated in the MR training showed significantly improved performance in visuospatial working memory compared with the individuals with MCI who participated in the conventional training. Conclusion An MR-based cognitive training system can be used as a cognitive training tool to improve visuospatial working memory in individuals with MCI.

The neuropsychological impact of processing naturalistic speech streams containing code switches at the inter-sentential level was studied in fluent bilinguals who frequently switch between languages. To this end, electroencephalographic recordings (EEG) and a behavioral recall test were used to address speech perception while processing pieces of information conveyed in a single- or mixed-language speech carrier. Measurements of spectral power in the continuous EEG signal accompanying perception of speech were directly compared between conditions. The direction of the switch was also assessed. Our principal finding was a reduced oscillatory power in the beta frequencies when bilinguals are attentively listening to informative speech streams in which the two known languages are intermixed. The memory recall test showed equivalent performance across the different language conditions. These results suggest that the cognitive cost of processing speech containing inter-sentential language switches is reflected at a neural level but that it has no measurable impact on the recall of long streams of information. Listening speech in which the two languages known to a bilingual are mixed at a sentence level, may have no clear behavioral drawback, but implies some neural processing cost.

We know from the literature that high cognitive load can impede performance and educational outcomes. Previous measures of cognitive load have largely relied on subjective scales but few have explored more objective measures. This paper aims to address this issue by examining the validity of electroencephalography (or EEG) as an objective measure of cognitive load in the context of educational video. EEG is an online brain measure of the electrical activity that a population of neurons elicits when they are activated. Theta power is a brain oscillation ranging from 4 to 7 Hz that has been linked to cognitive and memory performance. We manipulated the linguistic complexity of three texts delivered by a speaker on video to induce a simple, a moderate and a complex level of cognitive load amongst a sample of students pursuing postgraduate studies through the medium of English as a second language (n = 35). We specifically measured intrinsic cognitive load via a subjective scale, a recall test, and theta power as an objective measure (average cognitive load). Our results show that the subjective scale was significantly different across the three levels of linguistic complexity. However, theta power and recall were only significantly different between the two most distinct levels of linguistic complexity. Although, this finding suggests theta power may not be as sensitive for average cognitive load as the subjective scale for intrinsic cognitive load, a correlation analysis shows that theta power was correlated with self-reported cognitive load. However, it may need more power compared to the subjective scale. These findings suggest that theta power may be developed into a valid objective measure of average cognitive load although its true potential lies in the possibility to measure online fluctuations in cognitive load or instantaneous cognitive load.

INTRODUCTION: Simulation and virtual technologies currently are used to enhance basic and advanced nursing skills. Information on the use of simulation methods in the Iranian nursing education system, particularly regarding standardized patients (SP), is scarce. Hence, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of using SP on the performance of Iranian nursing students in the physical examination of the abdomen. In addition, the SP method was compared with the purely lecture-based education method. METHODS: The present study was of a pre-test/post-test design carried out at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kazerun Islamic Azad University (Kazerun, Iran) during 2014. Third-year nursing students were recruited and assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The study was conducted in three phases: pre-test knowledge evaluation, training sessions, and post-test/recall test evaluation of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 16.0). A total of 87 students were included in our analysis. RESULTS: All participants were female with a mean age of 21.99±1.73 years. The mean pre-test score of the control and intervention groups were 4.98±2.17 and 5.35±1.77, respectively. No significant difference was observed between the groups regarding the OSCE overall scores (P>0.05). However, there was a significant difference between the mean pre-test and post-test scores in each group (P

Within-trial priming paradigms have been widely used to measure lexical retrieval and familiarity-based processes in speeded pronunciation, perceptual identification, lexical decision, lexical retrieval, and episodic recognition tasks. Here, we introduce a novel within-trial priming paradigm to examine cued recall, which is considered a more recollection-based task. In each experiment, participants initially studied a list of paired-associates (e.g., BADGE-gold). During each recall test trial, 500 ms after the onset of the stimulus cue (BADGE-??????), a pattern-masked prime was briefly presented for either 48 ms or 125 ms, with the task to recall the word (e.g., gold) paired with the cue (BADGE). Across seven experiments, the primes were identical (gold), semantically related (silver), orthographically related (good), or unrelated (chair) to the to-be-recalled response item (gold). The results consistently indicated that the masked identity primes benefited immediate recall at both the 48 ms and 125 ms durations. There was no benefit from the orthographically related prime condition, suggesting that participants were not using partial letter information as an additional cue for memory retrieval. Semantically related primes only produced a benefit in immediate recall at the 125 ms prime duration. Delayed cued recall performance indicated that the facilitatory priming effects observed in immediate recall were eliminated. In addition, results from conditional analyses suggest that the benefits of retrieval in an immediate recall condition are reversed in the delayed recall condition. We consider multiple interpretations of these delayed recall results and argue that the results are in part due to priming influencing an activation-based mechanism in the immediate recall task, which decreases the retrieval demands for the response item to the paired associate cue, and hence, decreases the long-term benefits of retrieval practice.

Context Reflection in practice is assumed to enhance interest in knowing more about a topic, increasing engagement in learning and learning outcomes. However, this claim lacks empirical evidence, particularly in medical education. The authors investigated the effects of deliberate reflection upon clinical cases on medical students’ engagement in a learning activity and learning outcomes. Methods A three‐task (diagnostic task; learning activity; test) experiment was conducted in August 2017. Seventy‐two fourth‐year students from UNIFENAS‐BH Medical School, Brazil, diagnosed two clinical cases with jaundice as the chief complaint, either by following a deliberate reflection procedure or making differential diagnosis. Subsequently, all participants received the same study material on the diagnosis of jaundice. Finally, they took a recall test on the study material. Outcome measurements were study time and test scores. Results There was a significant effect of experimental condition on students’ engagement in the learning activity and on learning outcomes. Students who deliberately reflected upon the cases invested more time in studying the material than those who made a differential diagnosis (respectively, mean = 254.97, standard deviation = 115.45 versus mean = 194.96, standard deviation = 111.68; p = 0.02; d = 0.53). Deliberate reflection was also related to higher scores in the test relative to differential diagnosis (respectively, mean = 22.08, standard deviation = 14.94 versus mean = 15.75, standard deviation = 9.24; p = 0.03; d = 0.51). Medium effect sizes (Cohen's d) were observed in both measurements. Conclusions Relative to making differential diagnosis, deliberate reflection while diagnosing cases fostered medical students’ engagement in learning and increased learning outcomes. Teachers can employ this relatively easy procedure, possibly both with simulated and real scenarios, to motivate their students and help them expand their knowledge, an important requirement for their professional development.

Background: The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of eight-week aerobic exercise with moderate intensity and consumption of curcumin on TNF-α and Medium-term memory in 60-65 years old women with syndrome metabolic. Methods: 44 women with metabolic syndrome (MetS) voluntarily took part in the present study. Participants were randomly divided in 4 groups of MetS exercise+ Curcumin (MECU), MetS exercise (ME), MetS Curcumin (MCU), MetS control (MC). During the first week MECU group and ME participated in three sets of ten-minute aerobic exercise training with treadmill (AT) also they have 5 minute rest part between the sets. One minute was added to the duration of exercise sets weekly basis. Blood samples and memory test were conducted before and after eight -week. TNF-α level was measured by ELISA method and memory test were conduct with Picture recall test. To analyze the data, researcher made use of One-Way ANOVA, paired-sample t-test with the significance level of (P≤0.05). Results: After eight -week interventions TNF-α significantly decreased (P≤0.05). Also Medium-term memory significantly increased (P≤0.05). Conclusion: These findings indicate eight –week interventions induce to increase Medium-term memory and maybe this increasing relative to decreasing in TNF-α level and ameliorate in metabolic syndromes factors.

The primary and convergent retrieval (PCR) model assumes that the act of successful recall not only boosts associations between the item and retrieval cues but additionally strengthens associations within the item (i.e., between the features of an item), speeding the rate of information retrieval from memory. The latter effect is termed intra-item learning and is a unique benefit of recall practice (i.e., the "testing effect"). Prior work confirmed the prediction that recall practice produces faster subsequent recall than restudy practice even if accuracy is higher following restudy. The current study replicated this result, but also examined the downside of recall practice: that after a failure to recall during practice, participants will be faster in their failure to recall on a subsequent recall test. This prediction was confirmed in a multisession cued recall experiment that collected accuracy and recall latency measurements for no practice, recall practice, or restudy, with an immediate or delayed final test. The linear ballistic accumulator model was fit to latency distributions, and model comparison determined that these effects reflect differences in drift rates, as predicted by the PCR model.

Five studies were designed to provide further evidence of contamination effects in memory. In study 1, participants were told to imagine that either (1) they had been infected in the grasslands of a foreign land (ancestral contamination); (2) they had been infected during a trip in a foreign country (modern contamination); or (3) as tour guide, they had to organize a trip (control condition). Words processed within a contamination scenario (ancestral or modern) were remembered better than words processed in a control scenario. In studies 2 and 3, adults were shown objects that had been touched by someone who had washed his hands after visiting the toilets compared to someone who had not. In a surprise recall test, objects touched by dirty hands were not reliably more recalled than objects touched by clean hands. In study 4, objects were presented with the drawing of a face of a sick or healthy person. The memory performance in the surprise recall test of objects was higher in the sick face context than in the healthy face context. In study 5, faces of people who had signs of contamination or looked healthy were presented next to objects. In study 5a, participants rated their level of perceived discomfort when they imagined touching the objects next to faces (sick vs. healthy) and were then tested for their memory of objects. In study 5b, the same stimuli were presented but here had to be explicitly remembered. In both studies 5a and 5b, source memory was also evaluated. In both studies, participants remembered contaminated objects better than non-contaminated objects and they also remembered contaminated sources better. Taken together, the findings provide further evidence for the adaptive memory view (Nairne 2010), according to which items processed in a context of survival and/or reproduction (here a context of contamination) are remembered better than items processed in non-survival/reproduction contexts.

Background Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels are associated with impaired cognitive function, but the effect of vitamin D supplementation on cognitive function is uncertain. Methods 422 subjects were included in a randomized controlled trial with vitamin D (cholecalciferol) 100,000 IU given as a bolus dose followed by 20,000 IU per week versus placebo for four months. Cognitive function was evaluated with verbal recall test, coding test and tapping test. Results 374 subjects (mean age 52 years, 198 males) had complete cognitive tests both at baseline and at end of study. Mean baseline serum 25(OH)D level was 34 nmol/L. At baseline there were no significant associations between serum 25(OH)D and the three separate cognitive tests. At the end of the study mean serum 25(OH)D levels were 89 nmol/L and 31 nmol/L in the vitamin D and placebo groups, respectively. At the end of the study, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding change in the cognitive test scores. Nor did sub-group analyses based on gender, age, baseline serum 25(OH)D and cognitive test scores reveal significant differences between the two groups at the end of the study. Conclusions Vitamin D supplementation did not improve cognitive function during a four months intervention in mid-aged and older subjects. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02750293

Objective: To investigate neuropsychological functioning in children with and without Specific Learning Disorder. Methods: The comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in schools affiliated with Punjab Education Foundation, Gujrat, Pakistan, from January –to June 2019, and comprised children diagnosed with Specific Learning Disorder and age-matched and class matched high achievers as controls. Bender Gestalt Test II with copy test, recall test, perceptual test and motor test subscales was administered on both the groups for the assessment of neuropsychological functioning. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. Results: Of 116 subjects, 64(55.2%) were cases and 52(44.8%) controls. Overall, there were 64(55.2%) girls and 52(44.8%) boys with a mean age of 10.41(SD=1.14). There was significant difference on recall test (p

The phenomenon of banner blindness explains that users can mentally ignore online advertisements (ads). However, eye-tracking studies have shown that users still fixate on ads, and even without direct gaze, ads still fall within a user's peripheral vision, which may negatively overload cognition. It is therefore unknown how blind, banner blindness, truly is, and what other effect ads may have on user's information seeking. To address this gap, a within-subjects design experiment was conducted with 37 participants who performed search tasks from the TREC 2017 Common Core News Collection, where 3 search tasks contained various types of ads, and one search task had no ads. Although our results showed that on average, participants retrieved similar amounts of relevant documents regardless of whether ads were present or absent, participants took significantly longer achieving this performance when ads were present. Furthermore, when ads were absent, participants reported less frustration, and not only believed they learned more, but a post-task recall test showed that participants actually did learn up to 38% more. Consequently, our findings suggest that banner blindness is more costly than just mere annoyance, and that the influence of ads on user's information retrieval recall may extend current theories of visual crowding.

Enhanced cognitive ability has been shown to impart fitness advantages to some species by facilitating establishment in new environments. However, the cause of such enhancement remains enigmatic. Enhanced cognitive ability may be an adaptation occurring during the establishment process in response to new environments or, alternatively, such ‘enhancement’ may merely reflect a species’ characteristic. Based on previous findings that have shown ‘enhanced’ cognitive ability (i.e., higher success rate in solving novel food-extraction problems or, ‘innovation’) in Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), a successful mammalian invader and urban dweller, we used an intraspecific comparative paradigm to examine the cause of their ‘enhanced’ cognitive ability. We conducted a field study to compare cognitive performance of free-ranging squirrels residing in rural and urban habitats in native (United States) and non-native environments (United Kingdom). By using established tasks, we examined squirrels’ performance in easy and difficult, novel food-extraction problems (innovation), a motor memory recall test of the difficult problem, and a spatial learning task. We found that the four groups of squirrels showed comparable performance in most measures. However, we also found that the native urban squirrels showed: (1) higher success rate on the first visit for the difficult problem than the non-native urban squirrels; (2) some evidence for higher recall latency for the difficult problem after an extended period than the non-native rural squirrels; and (3) learning when encountering the same difficult problem. These results suggest that the previously reported ‘enhanced’ performance is likely to be a general characteristic and thus, a pre-adaptive phenotypic trait that brings fitness advantages to this species in a new environment. Despite this, some cognitive abilities in gray squirrels such as solving novel problems has undergone mild variation during the adaptive process in new environments.

Objectives Actively following a conversation can be demanding and limited cognitive resources must be allocated to the processing of speech, retaining and encoding the perceived content, and preparing an answer. The aim of the present study was to disentangle the allocation of effort into the effort required for listening (listening effort) and the effort required for retention (memory effort) by means of pupil dilation. Design Twenty-five normal-hearing German speaking participants underwent a sentence final word identification and recall test, while pupillometry was conducted. The participants' task was to listen to a sentence in four-talker babble background noise and to repeat the final word afterward. At the end of a list of sentences, they were asked to recall as many of the final words as possible. Pupil dilation was recorded during different list lengths (three sentences versus six sentences) and varying memory load (recall versus no recall). Additionally, the effect of a noise reduction algorithm on performance, listening effort, and memory effort was evaluated. Results We analyzed pupil dilation both before each sentence (sentence baseline) as well as the dilation in response to each sentence relative to the sentence baseline (sentence dilation). The pupillometry data indicated a steeper increase of sentence baseline under recall compared to no recall, suggesting higher memory effort due to memory processing. This increase in sentence baseline was most prominent toward the end of the longer lists, that is, during the second half of six sentences. Without a recall task, sentence baseline declined over the course of the list. Noise reduction appeared to have a significant influence on effort allocation for listening, which was reflected in generally decreased sentence dilation. Conclusion Our results showed that recording pupil dilation in a speech identification and recall task provides valuable insights beyond behavioral performance. It is a suitable tool to disentangle the allocation of effort to listening versus memorizing speech.

The evaluation of verbal memory is a core component of neuropsychological assessment in a wide range of clinical and research settings. Leveraging story recall to assay neurocognitive function could be made more useful if it were possible to administer frequently (i.e., would allow for the collection of more patient data over time) and automatically assess the recalls with machine learning methods. In the present study, we evaluated a novel story recall test with 24 parallel forms that was deployed using smart devices in 94 psychiatric inpatients and 80 nonpatient adults. Machine learning and vector-based natural language processing methods were employed to automate test scoring, and performance using these methods was evaluated in their incremental validity, criterion validity (i.e., convergence with trained human raters), and parallel forms reliability. Our results suggest moderate to high consistency across the parallel forms, high convergence with human raters (r values ~ 0.89), and high incremental validity for discriminating between groups. While much work remains, the present findings are critical for implementing an automated, neuropsychological test deployable using remote technologies across multiple and frequent administrations.

Studies on the social contagion of memory show that it is possible to create false memories from the wrong responses from other people without requiring their physical presence. The current study examined age differences between false memories via the modified social contagion paradigm. Twenty older and twenty younger adults were shown six household scenes and were exposed to the erroneous memory reports of an implied confederate who was not physically present. The presentation time of the scenes and the typicality of the contagion items were manipulated. The participants watched each scene individually and then took turns giving their recall responses with the responses belonging to a fictional participant provided by written cards. The results in a final individual recall test indicated a significant contagion effect in both groups of participants. Additionally, an effect of the typicality of the contagion items was observed, such that the more typical items produced more contagion than the less typical items. In relation to true recall, the older adults remembered significantly fewer items from the scenes than the younger ones and obtained a lower score in the word list subtest of the Weschler Memory Scale. Although the older group had an episodic memory deficit, they were not more susceptible to being affected by the wrong responses of other people than younger group.