Passage 1
Declining long-term memory (LTM) impacts diverse aspects of cognitive
performance and overall quality of life for many healthy older adults. Chronic
memory loss is typically first apparent as reduced capability for high-fidelity
memory, which is the most precise form of LTM. High-fidelity memory depends
upon flexible association of diverse bits of information for facts and events that
are remembered in distinct and detailed terms, and it can be conceptualized in
terms of source, associative, and autobiographical memory, as well as mnemonic
discrimination as a behavioral task to operationalize pattern separation processes.
To our knowledge, there has yet to be any cognitive or pharmaceutical interventions
that have demonstrated restorative effects for the decline in high-fidelity LTM that
occurs with aging.
We developed a virtual reality (VR) spatial wayfinding game (Labyrinth-VR) as a
cognitive intervention with the hypothesis that it could improve detailed, highfidelity LTM capability.
In the current study, 48 older adults (mean age 68.7±6.4 years) with average
cognitive abilities for their age were randomly assigned to 12 h of computer game
play over four weeks in either the Labyrinth-VR or placebo control game arms.
Promptly before and after each participant’s treatment regimen, high-fidelity LTM
outcome measures were tested to assess mnemonic discrimination and other
memory measures.
Figure 1: Comparisons of LDI for Younger, Older and Labyrinth-VR Participants. (A)
Mean LDI scores for participants in the Labyrinth-VR arm in Experiment 2 (i.e., at
baseline, T1, and post-training assessments, T2) are compared to the mean LDI
scores for groups of younger and older adults that completed the same Mnemonic
Discrimination Task in Experiment 1. Labyrinth-VR participants at T1 showed a
diminished level of LDI typical of older adults (OA), and then they improved this
important high-fidelity LTM capability at T2 up to a level typical for younger adults
(YA). (B) Mean LDI scores for participants in the Control arm in Experiment 2, at both
T1 and T2, were below the mean level of YA in experiment 1. ** indicates a difference
between means, p < 0.001, and * indicates a difference between means, p < 0.05.
The results showed a post-treatment gain in high-fidelity LTM capability for the
Labyrinth-VR arm, relative to placebo, which reached the levels attained by younger
adults in another experiment. This novel finding demonstrates generalization of
benefits from the VR wayfinding game to important, and untrained, LTM capabilities.
In summary, comparisons for the effects of the Labyrinth-VR intervention on
mnemonic discrimination found that older participants, who, on average, had shown
an age-typical level of diminished LDI at baseline, then improved this important
high-fidelity LTM capability after treatment up to a level typical for younger adults. This pattern in improvement suggests that the Labyrinth-VR intervention can restore
high-fidelity LTM capability for older adults to the typical level of younger adults.
Virtual reality video game improves high-fidelity memory in older adults. Adapted
from Wais et al. (2021).
Over time, which of the following changes in memory-related synaptic
connections are most likely to occur in older adults?
A) An increase in the overall plasticity of the brain
B) Greater long-term potentiation speeds
C) Prominent decline in working memory
D) Increased clearing of malformed neural proteins
Correct answer is C
As an individual ages, a variety of expected memory changes occur. These changes
can impact the formation of new memories, recall, recognition, and memory
retrieval in general. While there are several brain functions that are expected to
be fairly stable throughout the aging process, including the ability to recall certain
autobiographical memories from childhood (e.g. intact long-term memory) as well
as vocabulary-related memories, some memory-related functions experience a
natural and normal decline throughout the aging process.
One of these normal changes is a prominent decline in working memory, which is
the type of memory used when someone is actively engaged in a task. For example,
an older adult may have a harder time remembering a phone number they hear
on the radio and then attempting to call that number a few minutes later. For this
reason, Answer C is the correct answer.
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