Yannick Gounden

La mémoire d’une information distinctive : l’influence de l’âge

Une experience a examine les differences mnesiques liees a l�âge pour de l�information distinctive. Si un effet facilitateur d�orthographie a ete obtenu quel que soit l�âge des sujets (jeunes adultes vs. personnes âgees), l�effet de bizarrerie n�a ete observe en rappel libre que pour les jeunes adultes et non pour le groupe de sujets âges (au-dela de 70 ans). Les resultats sont discutes en lien avec la theorie de la distinctivite de Hunt (2006) qui predit que les fluctuations dans les traitements relationnels et specifiques a l�item influenceront les effets sur la memoire.

Victor and Catherine Henri on earliest recollections ## This article has been corrected on December 12, 2016.##

Resume Nous proposons une traduction anglaise integrale de l’article pionnier de Victor et Catherine Henri (1897) sur les premiers souvenirs d’enfance. Victor Henri (1872-1940) fut le premier collaborateur de Binet. En 1892, il commenca au laboratoire de psychologie a la Sorbonne des travaux experimentaux sur la memoire. Interesse par la localisation des sensations tactiles, il se rendit a Leipzig (1894-1896) pour travailler au laboratoire de Wundt et en avril 1896 il decida de rejoindre le laboratoire de Muller a l’Universite de Gottingen, ou il realisa une these sur ce sujet (1897). Durant son long sejour en Allemagne, Victor Henri restera en contact avec Binet, qui l’avait associe a son programme de psychologie individuelle (1896). C’est dans le contexte du developpement de ce programme que Victor et sa femme Catherine Henri ont publie dans L’Annee Psychologique les fameux resultats de leur questionnaire sur les premiers souvenirs de l’enfance (1897) qui ont tant inspire Freud. Cependant, bien que Freud ait suggere que l’amnesie infantile persiste jusqu’a l’âge de six ou huit ans, d’autres etudes ont confirme les resultats des epoux Henri, puisque l’âge moyen des premiers souvenirs identifies semble etre aux alentours de trois ans.

Investigating secondary-distinctiveness-based effects in aging and Alzheimer's disease patients.

The aim of the present study was 2-fold. First, two experiments were devised to further investigate secondary distinctiveness-based effects in relation to aging. By using a repeated study-test procedure, it aimed at restoring the bizarreness effect (Experiment 1) or at amplifying the orthographic distinctiveness (OD) effect in older adults (Experiment 2). Second, by including Alzheimers disease patients (AD patients) in both experiments, it also aimed at instigating research on secondary distinctiveness-based effects in relation to Alzheimer disease. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that a repeated study-test procedure may to some extent facilitate the free recalling of bizarre images in older adults. However, the benefit of such procedure does not seem to be durable in older adults (no bizarreness effect for the last study-test cycle) and is inefficient in AD patients. Surprisingly, for both older adults and AD patients, results of Experiment 2 revealed a similar OD effect across all study-test cycles. The findings of both experiments were related to previous work suggesting that the bizarreness effect and the OD effect are mediated by different processing.

Regularity effect in prospective memory during aging

Background Regularity effect can affect performance in prospective memory (PM), but little is known on the cognitive processes linked to this effect. Moreover, its impacts with regard to aging remain unknown. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine regularity effect in PM in a lifespan perspective, with a sample of young, intermediate, and older adults. Objective and design Our study examined the regularity effect in PM in three groups of participants: 28 young adults (18–30), 16 intermediate adults (40–55), and 25 older adults (65–80). The task, adapted from the Virtual Week, was designed to manipulate the regularity of the various activities of daily life that were to be recalled (regular repeated activities vs. irregular non-repeated activities). We examine the role of several cognitive functions including certain dimensions of executive functions (planning, inhibition, shifting, and binding), short-term memory, and retrospective episodic memory to identify those involved in PM, according to regularity and age. Results A mixed-design ANOVA showed a main effect of task regularity and an interaction between age and regularity: an age-related difference in PM performances was found for irregular activities (older < young), but not for regular activities. All participants recalled more regular activities than irregular ones with no age effect. It appeared that recalling of regular activities only involved planning for both intermediate and older adults, while recalling of irregular ones were linked to planning, inhibition, short-term memory, binding, and retrospective episodic memory. Conclusion Taken together, our data suggest that planning capacities seem to play a major role in remembering to perform intended actions with advancing age. Furthermore, the age-PM-paradox may be attenuated when the experimental design is adapted by implementing a familiar context through the use of activities of daily living. The clinical implications of regularity effect are discussed.

Talk the talk and walk the walk. Evaluation of autonomy in aging and Alzheimer disease by simulating instrumental activities of daily living: the S-IADL

Objective The autonomy of individuals is linked to the achievement of instrumental activities of daily living that require complex behavior. In the elderly, the assessment of autonomy is usually based on questionnaires that have strong subjective constraints. Considering this fact, we tested elderly healthy adults and Alzheimer disease patients using a new measure, the S-IADL (Simulation of Instrumental Activities for Daily Living), to assess the ability to perform effectively activities of daily living. Method The S-IADL shares many items with the well-known IADL questionnaire proposed by Lawton & Brody (1969). However, as opposed to the IADL, the assessment of autonomy is not based on the completion of a questionnaire but requires the realization or simulation of various activities of daily living. Eighty-three participants (69 healthy elderly, and 14 Alzheimer Disease patients) completed the IADL and performed the S-IADL assessment. Results Results revealed that, like the IADL, the S-IADL is able to identify AD patients who are likely to encounter difficulties in performing everyday activities, and no major differences were found between the IADL and the S-IADL. Conclusions We outlined some advantages for prefering, in certain situation, this new tool based on simulation of activities in functional evaluation. Finally, we discuss the main limits of the S-IADL that should be investigated prior to its utilization by clinicians.

Secondary distinctiveness effects: Orthographic distinctiveness and bizarreness effects make independent contributions to memory performance

The secondary distinctiveness effect means that items that are unusual compared to ones general knowledge stored in permanent memory are remembered better than common items. This research studied two forms of secondary-distinctiveness-based effects in conjunction: the bizarreness effect and the orthographic distinctiveness (OD) effect. More specifically, an experiment investigated in young adults a possible additive effect of bizarreness and OD effects in free recall performance. Results revealed that in young adults these two secondary-distinctiveness-based effects appear to be largely independent and can complement each other to enhance performance. Findings are discussed in light of current distinctiveness theory.

Dynamic and Functional Approach to Human Memory in the Brain: A Clinical Neuropsychological Perspective

The way how cognition is conceived and represented in brain functioning will directly impact clinical investigations of people with cognitive difficulties. This is particularly evident in the field of clinical neuropsychology where methodologies and tools are justified on a fundamental level by the theoretical foundations adopted. The present article outlined how the dominant influences of structural and anatomo-clinical theories of memory have led to a particular conception of clinical investigations. We propose to reconsider these dominant methods in favor of a more dynamic and functional representation of memory that would be clinically more appropriate. More precisely, we argued that relying exclusively on a particular memory conception (i.e., structural) may not be sufficient considering the range of real-life variables affecting a patient’s memory. By extracting clinically meaningful information in more functional and dynamic memory conceptions, we also aim at underlining the potentials advantages of such theories in facilitating personalized assessments and follow up of patients in clinical neuropsychology. We suggest that a dynamic, functional, and integrative conception of memory would be more coherent with the trend in clinical neuropsychology to promote a more collaborative interaction between the clinician and the patient. Finally, considering the absence of empirical studies on the possible benefits of implementing such recent memory concepts in clinical practice, we encourage researchers and clinicians to test in the field of clinical neuropsychology, the usefulness and explanatory power of more dynamic and functional representation of memory in order to objectively demonstrate its validity outside the research loop.

Investigating on the Methodology Effect When Evaluating Lucid Dream

Lucid dreaming (LD) is a state of consciousness in which the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming and can possibly control the content of his or her dream. To investigate the LD prevalence among different samples, researchers have used different types of methodologies. With regard to retrospective self-report questionnaire, two ways of proceeding seem to emerge. In one case, a definition of LD is given to participants (“During LD, one is–while dreaming–aware of the fact that one is dreaming. It is possible to deliberately wake up, to control the dream action, or to observe passively the course of the dream with this awareness”), while in the other instances, participants are presented separate questions targeting specific LD indicators (dream awareness and dream control). In the present study, we measured LD frequency in a sample of French student in order to investigate for possible disparities in LD frequency depending on the type of questionnaire as outlined above. Moreover, we also study links between the prevalence of LD as assessed, respectively, by each questionnaire with various factors such as Vividness of Mental Imagery and Parasomnia. Results revealed no significant difference between LD frequencies across questionnaires. For the questionnaire with definition (DefQuest), 81.05% of participants reported experience of LD once or more. Concerning the questionnaire based on LD indicators (AwarContQuest), 73.38% of participants reported having experienced LD once or more. However, with regard to the correlations analysis, links between LD prevalence and factors such as Vividness of Mental Imagery and Parasomnia, varied across questionnaires. This result is an argument suggesting that researchers should be careful when investigating links between LD and other factors. The type of methodology may influence findings on LD research. Further studies are needed to investigate on the methodology effect in LD research namely on the respective weight of awareness and control.