Minimizing interference with early consolidation boosts 7-day retention in amnesic patients

Jessica Alber, Sergio Della Sala, Michaela Dewar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: A short wakeful rest immediately after learning boosts memory retention in amnesic patients over several minutes. Here we investigated whether a short wakeful rest could boost memory retention in amnesic patients over a much longer period. Method: The authors tested 15 patients with amnesia associated with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 15 age- and-education-matched controls. All participants learned 2 prose passages, 1 followed by a 10-min wakeful rest (minimal sensory stimulation), and the other by a 10-min visual spot the difference game. Participants were given a surprise delayed recall test for both prose passages after 15-30 min and after 7 days. Results: Wakeful resting boosted memory substantially in the patients over 15-30 min and 7 days: After 7 days all 15 patients retained >30% of the prose that had been learned prior to wakeful resting. In contrast, after 7 days, only 4 patients retained >30% of the prose that had been learned prior to playing the spot the difference game. Conclusions: This striking 7-day memory boost via wakeful resting is remarkable, given that amnesic patients often struggle to remember new information over just a few minutes. Our novel findings indicate that there is substantial capacity for longer-term retention in patients with amnestic MCI/mild AD, and bolster the hypothesis that wakeful resting boosts memory by protecting the compromised memory consolidation system from interfering incoming information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)667-675
Number of pages9
JournalNeuropsychology
Volume28
Issue number5
Early online date12 May 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2014

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