Everyday Functioning Benefits from an Assisted Living Platform amongst Frail Older Adults and Their Caregivers

Ambient assisted living technologies (AAL) are regarded as a promising solution to support aging in place. Yet, their efficacy has to be demonstrated in terms of benefits for independent living and for work conditions of caregivers. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the benefits of a multi-task AAL platform for both Frail older Individuals (FIs) and professional caregivers with respect to everyday functioning and caregiver burden. In this context, a 6-month field study involved 32 FIs living at home (half of them were equipped by the platform and the remaining half were not, as a control condition) and their caregivers. Everyday functioning measures were reported by frail participants and caregivers. Self-reported burden measures of caregiver were also collected. The main results showed that the caregiver's estimates of everyday functioning of equipped participants were unchanged across time, while they decreased for the control participants. Also, a reduction of self-reported objective burden was obtained after 6 months of AAL intervention for the equipped group, compared to the control group. Overall, these results highlighted the potential of AAL as a relevant environmental support for preventing both functional losses in FIs and objective burden professional caregiver

Sediment source fingerprinting: benchmarking recent outputs, remaining challenges and emerging themes

Abstract: Purpose: This review of sediment source fingerprinting assesses the current state-of-the-art, remaining challenges and emerging themes. It combines inputs from international scientists either with track records in the approach or with expertise relevant to progressing the science. Methods: Web of Science and Google Scholar were used to review published papers spanning the period 2013–2019, inclusive, to confirm publication trends in quantities of papers by study area country and the types of tracers used. The most recent (2018–2019, inclusive) papers were also benchmarked using a methodological decision-tree published in 2017. Scope: Areas requiring further research and international consensus on methodological detail are reviewed, and these comprise spatial variability in tracers and corresponding sampling implications for end-members, temporal variability in tracers and sampling implications for end-members and target sediment, tracer conservation and knowledge-based pre-selection, the physico-chemical basis for source discrimination and dissemination of fingerprinting results to stakeholders. Emerging themes are also discussed: novel tracers, concentration-dependence for biomarkers, combining sediment fingerprinting and age-dating, applications to sediment-bound pollutants, incorporation of supportive spatial information to augment discrimination and modelling, aeolian sediment source fingerprinting, integration with process-based models and development of open-access software tools for data processing. Conclusions: The popularity of sediment source fingerprinting continues on an upward trend globally, but with this growth comes issues surrounding lack of standardisation and procedural diversity. Nonetheless, the last 2 years have also evidenced growing uptake of critical requirements for robust applications and this review is intended to signpost investigators, both old and new, towards these benchmarks and remaining research challenges for, and emerging options for different applications of, the fingerprinting approach

The episodic memory deficit in aging : the possible mediators of the strategic processes impairment

L’objectif de ce travail était d’appréhender le déficit associatif en mémoire épisodique des adultes âgés en termes de déclin des processus stratégiques. Comme composantes du déficit lié à l’âge des processus stratégiques, nous avons étudié les stratégies de mémoire en tant qu’opérations contrôlées, puis dans le cadre de la métamémoire en tant que processus de régulation, et finalement selon une approche neuropsychologique nous avons considéré le fonctionnement exécutivo-frontal comme élément essentiel de la mise en œuvre de stratégies mnésiques. L’ensemble des résultats suggère que le déficit associatif des adultes âgés est en partie dû à leur diminution des capacités d’initiation, d’exécution et d’adaptation de stratégies lors de l’encodage et de la récupération. En outre, le dysfonctionnement exécutif des adultes âgés limiterait leur capacité d’exploiter efficacement une stratégie mise en œuvre à l’apprentissage et à la récupération. Toutefois, l’augmentation de la quantité de support cognitif et l’amélioration de la qualité de ce dernier a permis de compenser leur déficit associatif en mémoire épisodique. Globalement, ce travail suggère que les adultes âgés bénéficieraient d’une réserve cognitive qui leur permettrait, à condition de support et d’entraînement cognitif, de compenser en partie leur déficit associatif en mémoire épisodique.The main goal of this thesis was to evaluate the age-related associative memory deficit in terms of encoding and retrieval strategies impairment. We studied memory strategies in terms of control processes, then within metamemory framework in terms of regulation process, and finally according to a neuropsychological approach we considered the executive control as a critical factor in the implementation of memory strategies. Results suggest that the age-related associative deficit is partly due to their reduction of the abilities of initiation, implementation and adaptation of strategies during encoding and retrieval. Moreover, the age-related executive dysfunction would restrict their ability to exploit efficiently a strategy implemented during encoding and/or retrieval. Nevertheless, the increase of the quantity of cognitive support and the improvement of its quality allowed compensating their associative deficit in episodic memory. Finally, this thesis suggests that older adults benefit from cognitive plasticity which would allow them, on the condition of support and on cognitive training, partly compensating their associative memory deficit

Déclin de la mémoire au cours du vieillissement normal (étude des médiateurs du déficit des processus stratégiques.)

L objectif de ce travail était d appréhender le déficit associatif en mémoire épisodique des adultes âgés en termes de déclin des processus stratégiques. Comme composantes du déficit lié à l âge des processus stratégiques, nous avons étudié les stratégies de mémoire en tant qu opérations contrôlées, puis dans le cadre de la métamémoire en tant que processus de régulation, et finalement selon une approche neuropsychologique nous avons considéré le fonctionnement exécutivo-frontal comme élément essentiel de la mise en œuvre de stratégies mnésiques. L ensemble des résultats suggère que le déficit associatif des adultes âgés est en partie dû à leur diminution des capacités d initiation, d exécution et d adaptation de stratégies lors de l encodage et de la récupération. En outre, le dysfonctionnement exécutif des adultes âgés limiterait leur capacité d exploiter efficacement une stratégie mise en œuvre à l apprentissage et à la récupération. Toutefois, l augmentation de la quantité de support cognitif et l amélioration de la qualité de ce dernier a permis de compenser leur déficit associatif en mémoire épisodique. Globalement, ce travail suggère que les adultes âgés bénéficieraient d une réserve cognitive qui leur permettrait, à condition de support et d entraînement cognitif, de compenser en partie leur déficit associatif en mémoire épisodique.The main goal of this thesis was to evaluate the age-related associative memory deficit in terms of encoding and retrieval strategies impairment. We studied memory strategies in terms of control processes, then within metamemory framework in terms of regulation process, and finally according to a neuropsychological approach we considered the executive control as a critical factor in the implementation of memory strategies. Results suggest that the age-related associative deficit is partly due to their reduction of the abilities of initiation, implementation and adaptation of strategies during encoding and retrieval. Moreover, the age-related executive dysfunction would restrict their ability to exploit efficiently a strategy implemented during encoding and/or retrieval. Nevertheless, the increase of the quantity of cognitive support and the improvement of its quality allowed compensating their associative deficit in episodic memory. Finally, this thesis suggests that older adults benefit from cognitive plasticity which would allow them, on the condition of support and on cognitive training, partly compensating their associative memory deficit.TOURS-Bibl.électronique (372610011) / SudocSudocFranceF

Comment la modification du comportement stratégique peut contribuer à l’explication du déclin mnésique au cours du vieillissement

International audienceL’objectif de cet article de synthèse était d’appréhender le déclin en mémoire épisodique au cours du vieillissement en termes de modifications du comportement stratégique. Dans une première partie, nous avons considéré les modifications du comportement stratégique en tant que capacité limitée des adultes âgés à initier des processus contrôlés. Dans la deuxième partie, nous avons adopté une perspective métamnésique en rendant compte des difficultés liées à l’âge des processus de régulation mnésique. Enfin, dans la conclusion nous avons abordé le déclin de la mémoire épisodique selon une approche neuropsychologique telle que l’altération du cortex frontal liée à l’âge semble impliquée dans la diminution d’un ensemble de ressources cognitives nécessaires aux processus stratégiques en mémoire

Generation and associative encoding in young and old adults. The effect of the strength of association between cues and targets on a cued recall task

International audienc

Everyday Functioning Benefits from an Assisted Living Platform amongst Frail Older Adults and Their Caregivers

International audienceAmbient assisted living technologies (AAL) are regarded as a promising solution to support aging in place. Yet, their efficacy has to be demonstrated in terms of benefits for independent living and for work conditions of caregivers. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the benefits of a multi-task AAL platform for both Frail older Individuals (FIs) and professional caregivers with respect to everyday functioning and caregiver burden. In this context, a 6-month field study involved 32 FIs living at home (half of them were equipped by the platform and the remaining half were not, as a control condition) and their caregivers. Everyday functioning measures were reported by frail participants and caregivers. Self-reported burden measures of caregiver were also collected. The main results showed that the caregiver's estimates of everyday functioning of equipped participants were unchanged across time, while they decreased for the control participants. Also, a reduction of self-reported objective burden was obtained after 6 months of AAL intervention for the equipped group, compared to the control group. Overall, these results highlighted the potential of AAL as a relevant environmental support for preventing both functional losses in FIs and objective burden professional caregiver

Study time allocation deficit of older adults: The role of environmental support at encoding?

International audienceThe present research evaluated both metacognitive and environmental support accounts of age-related changes in the way study time is adapted to task difficulty. The original aim was to examine whether providing environmental support at encoding would allow older adults to adjust their study time to the task difficulty by using effective encoding strategies. The difficulty of the learning task was manipulated by varying the strength of association of cue–target pairs (i.e., weak vs. strong associates). This allowed us to measure metacognitive control in aging and, specifically, the ability to adjust study time according to task difficulty. The level of environmental support at encoding was manipulated to examine whether it could be used by older adults to adjust their study time according to the task difficulty. In contrast to the classical literature on the effect of aging on metacognitive control, we found that older adults were able to adjust their study time to task difficulty when environmental support was provided. Furthermore, providing encoding strategies with information about their effectiveness helped older adults adjust their study time to task difficulty optimally by improving their strategy use and compensating for their associative memory deficit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

Does the greater involvement of executive control in memory with age act as a compensatory mechanism?

International audienceRecent behavioural and imaging data have shown that memory functioning seems to rely more on executive functions and on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in older than in young adults. Using a behavioural approach, our objective was to confirm the hypothesis that young and older adults present different patterns of correlation between episodic memory performance and executive functioning. We report three studies comparing the correlations of young and older adults in a broad range of episodic memory and executive function tasks. The results indicated that memory and executive performance were consistently and significantly correlated in older but not in younger adults. Regression analyses confirmed that age-related differences in episodic memory performance could be explained by individual differences in executive functioning. The results are consistent with the view that memory functioning in aging is accompanied by a shift from automatic to controlled forms of processing. They also generalise the executive hypothesis of episodic memory aging and are in line with the idea that executive functions act as a compensatory mechanism against age-related memory decline.De récentes études comportementales et de neuroimagerie ont montré que le fonctionnement de la mémoire semble dépendre davantage des fonctions exécutives et du cortex préfrontal chez les adultes âgés que chez les jeunes adultes. Au moyen d’une approche comportementale, nous avons cherché à confirmer l’hypothèse selon laquelle les jeunes adultes et les adultes âgés présentent des patterns de corrélations différents entre la mémoire épisodique et les fonctions exécutives. Nous rapportons trois études comparant les corrélations de jeunes adultes et d’adultes âgés dans différentes tâches de mémoire épisodique et de fonctions exécutives. Les résultats indiquent que les performances de la mémoire épisodique et des fonctions exécutives sont systématiquement et significativement corrélées chez les adultes âgés mais pas chez les jeunes adultes. Des analyses de régression montrent que les effets de l’âge en mémoire épisodique peuvent être expliqués par les différences individuelles liées aux fonctions exécutives. Ils confirment également l’idée selon laquelle, au cours du vieillissement, le fonctionnement de la mémoire repose davantage sur des processus contrôlés qu’automatiques. Ces résultats généralisent l’hypothèse exécutive du vieillissement de la mémoire épisodique et confortent l’idée que le recours aux fonctions exécutives constitue un mécanisme compensatoire permettant de réduire les effets du vieillissement sur la mémoire

Event-related brain potential correlates of brain reorganization of episodic memory throughout the adult lifespan

International audienceThe main aim of this study was to characterize the age-related evolution of the event-related brain potentials correlates of successful to tackle the neural reorganization patterns associated with this episodic retrieval. We thus examined the evolution of the event-related brain potential old/new effect across the adult lifespan, in five groups, aged 21–70 years (21–30, 31–40, 41–50, 51–60, and 61–70 years), equalized on their memory performance through a word-stem cued-recall task. This procedure makes it possible to examine the evolution of age-related changes in brain organization during adulthood and to specify the age onset of these changes. Results confirm the hypothesis that aging is associated with major changes in brain functioning. These changes appear to be consistent with both the HAROLD and PASA hypotheses, which postulate an age-related reduction in hemispheric asymmetry and a shift from posterior to anterior areas, respectively. What is notable is that these patterns of brain reorganization are not specific to older stages of life as they begin to develop very early in adult life, around the 30s, and the shift toward frontal regions strengthens in the 60s