What do we know about the relationship between source monitoring deficits and executive dysfunction?

In clinical neuropsychology, source monitoring deficits have been classically attributed to executive dysfunction. Nevertheless, in this review we identified only 16 papers that provided statistical data about the relationships between source monitoring and executive processes. Surprisingly, they reported either a total, partial or non-existent relationship between source monitoring and executive tasks. In order to understand and explain these contradictions, we classified the source and executive tasks of the 16 papers according to two well-accepted definitions. Source tasks were classified using the Source Monitoring Framework (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993 ) which specifies reality and external and internal source monitoring. Executive tasks were classified according to the model of Miyake Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, and Howerter (2000) which specifies complex, shifting, updating and inhibition tasks. We found that evaluation of reality and internal source monitoring was limited. Regarding executive functions, there was no assessment of updating and only a limited assessment of shifting and inhibition. Therefore, the relationship between source monitoring and executive functions remains an open question. Our findings point to the need for the simultaneous assessment of source monitoring and executive functions as defined by multidimensional theoretical frameworks. Such investigations would help in understanding the relationship between specific source monitoring deficits and specific executive decline in clinical populations

Directed forgetting of source memory in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Using the source directed forgetting method, the present paper investigated whether older adults and Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) patients were able to inhibit source information. METHODS: Younger adults, older adults and AD participants were presented with two sets of six items each: Set1 and Set2. Each item was presented by one of two sources: an experimenter black- or white-gloved hand. After the presentation of the Set1 items, participants were instructed either to forget or to continue remembering the source of the items. Afterward, all participants were presented with the Set2 items, and were asked to remember their source. Finally, subjects were exposed to the Set1 and Set2 items, and were asked to recall, for each item, its original source presentation (i.e., the experimenter black- or white-gloved hand). RESULTS: In comparison with younger adults, older adults and AD participants showed no differences in remembering the source of the Set1 and Set2 items. In other words, they failed to inhibit the source information. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our outcomes are discussed in terms of retrieval inhibition deficits and changes in adaptive nature of memory in normal aging and AD

Music cues autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer’s disease

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Destination memory in Alzheimer's Disease: when I imagine telling Ronald Reagan about Paris

Destination memory refers to remembering the destination of information that people output. This present paper establishes a new distinction between external and internal processes within this memory system for both normal aging and Alzheimer\u27s Disease (AD). Young adults, older adults, and mild AD patients were asked either to tell facts (i.e., external destination memory condition) or to imagine telling facts (i.e., internal destination memory condition) to pictures of famous people. The experiment established three major findings. First, the destination memory performance of the AD patients was significantly poorer than that of older adults, which in turn was poorer than that of the young adults. Furthermore, internal destination processes were more prone to being forgotten than external destination memory processes. In other words, participants had more difficulty in remembering whether they had previously imagined telling the facts to the pictures or not (i.e., imagined condition) than in remembering whether they had previously told the facts to the pictures or not (i.e., enacted condition). Second, significant correlations were detected between performances on destination memory and several executive measures such as the Stroop, the Plus-Minus and the Binding tasks. Third, among the executive measures, regression analyses showed that performance on the Stroop task was a main factor in explaining variance in destination memory performance. Our findings reflect the difficulty in remembering the destination of internally generated information. They also demonstrate the involvement of inhibitory processes in destination memory

3D Interaction Techniques for Virtual Shopping : design and preliminary study

Virtual Reality is now recognized as a powerful tool for the assessment and rehabilitation of both motor and cognitive impairments. In this context, effective Virtual Environments (VEs) that simulate everyday tasks must be proposed. We have developed a virtual supermarket (VS) in which the user can explore and collect various items using a shopping cart. Four interaction techniques have been designed and compared in terms of usability, performance and workload with healthy volunteer participants. These techniques go beyond the desktop paradigm by offering a more immersive and intuitive way of interaction. Results showed that participants were more efficient in terms of performance (completion time and travelled distance) using the game-pad rather than using full body gestures. However, they had more fun performing the task under these conditions

Directed forgetting of source memory in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Using the source directed forgetting method, the present paper investigated whether older adults and Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) patients were able to inhibit source information. METHODS: Younger adults, older adults and AD participants were presented with two sets of six items each: Set1 and Set2. Each item was presented by one of two sources: an experimenter black- or white-gloved hand. After the presentation of the Set1 items, participants were instructed either to forget or to continue remembering the source of the items. Afterward, all participants were presented with the Set2 items, and were asked to remember their source. Finally, subjects were exposed to the Set1 and Set2 items, and were asked to recall, for each item, its original source presentation (i.e., the experimenter black- or white-gloved hand). RESULTS: In comparison with younger adults, older adults and AD participants showed no differences in remembering the source of the Set1 and Set2 items. In other words, they failed to inhibit the source information. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our outcomes are discussed in terms of retrieval inhibition deficits and changes in adaptive nature of memory in normal aging and AD

Destination memory for emotional information in older adults

Background/Study Context: Destination memory, remembering the destination of the information that one tells, shows significant age-related decline. In the present paper, the authors sought to determine whether destination memory can be improved in older adults using emotional stimuli. This aim was motivated by findings showing better context memory for emotional than for neutral information in older adults. Methods: Younger and older adults were asked to tell neutral facts to three types of faces: a neutral one, an emotionally positive one, and an emotionally negative one. On a later recognition test, participants were asked to associate each previously told fact with the face to whom it was told. Results: Destination memory performance was better for facts told to negative than to positive faces, and the latter memory was better than for neutral faces in older adults. Conclusion: Older adults seem to place higher emphasis on emotional material relative to neutral faces, showing better memory for the association between statements and emotional faces

A New 2D Interaction-based Method for the Behavioral Analysis of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

In neuropsychology, many computerized solutions have been proposed in order to assess patients’ functioning in activities of daily living, via realistic interactive simulation. In this context, most developed systems are based on simple devices, real time 2D interaction, and monoscopic 3D computer graphics environment. Behavioral analysis has drawn the interest of many domains, such as neuropsychology, ergonomics, web design, or virtual reality. However, advances on this topic remains fragmented in their respective areas. Thus, in computerized solutions applied to neuropsychology, the behavioral analysis does not take into account the data from interaction. The potential interest of computerized solutions is hence underexploited. In this paper, we propose a transdisciplinary solution, based on a finer analysis of 2D interaction data, such as stop duration. This method could reveal interesting aspects of users’ behaviors

Microscopic nanomechanical dissipation in gallium arsenide resonators

We report on a systematic study of nanomechanical dissipation in high-frequency (approximatively 300 MHz) gallium arsenide optomechanical disk resonators, in conditions where clamping and fluidic losses are negligible. Phonon-phonon interactions are shown to contribute with a loss background fading away at cryogenic temperatures (3 K). Atomic layer deposition of alumina at the surface modifies the quality factor of resonators, pointing towards the importance of surface dissipation. The temperature evolution is accurately fitted by two-level systems models, showing that nanomechanical dissipation in gallium arsenide resonators directly connects to their microscopic properties. Two-level systems, notably at surfaces, appear to rule the damping and fluctuations of such high-quality crystalline nanomechanical devices, at all temperatures from 3 to 300K

3-Alkoxy-4-bromothiophenes: general synthesis of monomers and regio-selective preparation of two dimers

3-Alkoxy-4-bromothiophenes were synthesized in three steps from the readily available methyl 2-carboxylate-3-hydroxythiophene and two isomers of bithiophenes based on the 3-bromo-4-methoxythiophene moiety were regio-selectively prepared. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved