Age Deficits in Associative Memory are not Alleviated by Multisensory Paradigms

ObjectivesAge deficits in memory are widespread, this impacts individuals at a personal level, and investigating memory has been a key focus in cognitive ageing research. Age deficits occur in memory for an episode, where information from the environment is integrated through the senses into an episodic event via associative memory. Associating items in memory has been shown to be particularly difficult for older adults but can often be alleviated by providing support from the external environment. The current investigation explored the potential for increased sensory input (multimodal stimuli) to alleviate age deficits in associative memory. Here, we present compelling evidence, supported by Bayesian analysis, for a null age-by-modality interaction.MethodsAcross three pre-registered studies, young and older adults (n = 860) completed associative memory tasks either in single modalities or in multimodal formats. Study 1 used either visual text (unimodal) or video introductions (multimodal) to test memory for name-face associations. Studies 2 and 3 tested memory for paired associates. Study 2 used unimodal visual presentation or cross modal visual-auditory word pairs in a cued recall paradigm. Study 3 presented word pairs as visual only, auditory only or audiovisual and tested memory separately for items (individual words) or associations (word pairings).ResultsTypical age deficits in associative memory emerged, but these were not alleviated by multimodal presentation.DiscussionThe lack of multimodal support for associative memory indicates that perceptual manipulations are less effective than other forms of environmental support at alleviating age deficits in associative memory

Relationship between self-reported listening and communication difficulties and executive function: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Listening and communication difficulties can limit people’s participation in activity and adversely affect their quality of life. Hearing, as well as listening and communication difficulties, can be measured either by using behavioural tests or self-report measures, and the outcomes are not always closely linked. The association between behaviourally measured and self-reported hearing is strong, whereas the association between behavioural and self-reported measures of listening and communication difficulties is much weaker, suggesting they assess different aspects of listening. While behavioural measures of listening and communication difficulties have been associated with poorer cognitive performance including executive functions, the same association has not always been shown for self-report measures. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to understand the relationship between executive function and self-reported listening and communication difficulties in adults with hearing loss, and where possible, potential covariates of age and pure-tone audiometric thresholds.Methods and analysis Studies will be eligible for inclusion if they report data from both a self-report measure of listening difficulties and a behavioural measure of executive function. Eight databases are to be searched: MEDLINE (via Ovid SP), EMBASE (via Ovid SP), PsycINFO (via Ovid SP), ASSIA (via ProQuest), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature or CINAHL (via EBSCO Host), Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science (Science and Social Science Citation Index). The JBI critical appraisal tool will be used to assess risk of bias for included studies. Results will be synthesised primarily using a meta-analysis, and where sufficient quantitative data are not available, a narrative synthesis will be carried out to describe key results

(Not) feeling up or down? Lack of evidence for vertical spatial iconicity effects for valence evaluations of emoji stimuli

A key question about the function of emoji is whether or not they are emotional. This is not yet fully established, and the literature presents mixed evidence. We used the Emoji Spatial Stroop Task to explore spatial iconicity effects based on vertical positioning of emoji. Emoji stimuli were presented in three vertical positions whereby participants (N = 87) made a valence evaluation. Accuracy and latency of responses were measured. A 2 (emoji valence; positive, negative) x 3 (vertical position; upper, lower, central) within-participants design was used to determine the impacts of emoji valence and position on accuracy and latency of valence evaluations. Responses were analysed in a 2 × 3 mixed effects binary regression with emoji valence and spatial congruency as fixed effects. No main or interaction effects of emoji valence and spatial congruence were observed. These findings challenge the assumption that we process emoji as symbolic objects that represent emotion concepts