The Interdependence of Long and Short-term Components In Unmasked Repetition Priming: An Indication Of Shared Resources

It has been suggested that unmasked repetition priming is composed of distinct long-and short-term priming components. The current study sought to clarify the relationship between these components by examining the relationship between them. A total of 60 people (45 females, 15 males) participated in a computer-based lexical decision task designed to measure levels of short-term priming across different levels of long-term priming. The results revealed an interdependent relationship between the two components, whereby an increase in long-term priming prompted a decrease in short-term priming. Both long-term and short-term priming were accurately captured by a single power function over seven minutes post repetition, suggesting the two components may draw on the same resources. This interdependence between long- and short-term priming may serve to improve fluency in reading. © 2015 Merema, Speelman. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Age and premorbid intelligence suppress complaint-performance congruency in raw score measures of memory

Background: We aimed to examine the role of age and premorbid intelligence (IQ) in suppressing the relationship between subjective memory complaints (SMCs) and raw score memory performance. Methods: We used a community sample of older adults aged 66–90 years (N = 121) to test whether the inclusion of age and a premorbid IQ measure in multiple regression analyses increased semipartial correlations of raw score memory performance in predicting SMCs. Rank contrast correlations were also carried out to observe how age and premorbid IQ are related to complaint–performance congruency. Measures utilized in the study included the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (for SMCs), Visual Reproduction and Logical Memory Subtests (memory performance), and the National Adult Reading Test (premorbid IQ). Results: Inclusion of age and premorbid IQ in the multiple regression analyses increased semipartial correlations for all raw score measures of memory. Both age and premorbid IQ were significantly related to complaint–performance congruency, whereby older participants and those with lower premorbid IQ scores rated their memory abilities more leniently than younger and higher premorbid IQ participants. Conclusion: The results suggest differences in age and premorbid IQ play a small role in suppressing the relationship between SMCs and memory performance when utilizing raw score measures of memory

Neuroticism (Not Depressive Symptoms) Predicts Memory Complaints in Some Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Objectives: To examine whether depressive symptoms are useful predictors of subjective memory complaints in community-dwelling older adults, beyond the predictive utility already provided by memory performance and characteristics of personality. Design: Using hierarchical regression, we examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and subjective memory complaints, controlling for age, gender, education, memory performance, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Participants: Community-dwelling older adults aged 66 to 90 years (N = 177) who responded to a newspaper advertisement for a memory study in Perth, Western Australia. Measurements: The General Frequency of Forgetting scale (for memory complaints), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (for depressive symptoms), NEO-Five Factor Inventory (for conscientiousness and neuroticism), and the Visual Reproduction and Logical Memory subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale—4th Edition (for visual and verbal memory). Results:The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that while depressive symptoms significantly predicted memory complaints after variance associated with age, gender, education, memory performance, and conscientiousness was partialled out, they accounted for almost none of the variance in complaints when neuroticism was partialled out. Conclusions: The well-established relationship between depression and memory complaints may exist in some community-dwelling older adult populations only on account of the manner in which both are associated with neuroticism