Event-based prospective memory in depression: The impact of cue focality

This study is the first to compare event-based prospective memory performance in individuals with depression and healthy controls. The degree to which self-initiated processing is required to perform the prospective memory task was varied. Twenty-eight individuals with depression and 32 healthy controls worked on a computerized prospective memory task. Prospective cues were either presented focally or nonfocally to the ongoing activity. Collapsing data across both conditions, controls outperformed individuals with depression in the prospective memory task. Overall, participants showed a poorer prospective memory performance in the nonfocal condition that required self-initiated processing to a higher degree than the focal condition. Importantly, as revealed by a group by task condition interaction, groups did not differ in the focal condition, whereas, controls outperformed individuals with depression in the nonfocal condition. The results are in line with the multiprocess framework of event-based prospective remembering and the cognitive-initiative account of depression-related cognitive deficits

A meta-analysis and critical review of prospective memory in autism spectrum disorder

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember to carry out a planned intention at an appropriate moment in the future. Research on PM in ASD has produced mixed results. We aimed to establish the extent to which two types of PM (event-based/time-based) are impaired in ASD. In part 1, a meta-analysis of all existing studies indicates a large impairment of time-based, but only a small impairment of event-based, PM in ASD. In Part 2, a critical review concludes that time-based PM appears diminished in ASD, in line with the meta-analysis, but that caution should be taken when interpreting event-based PM findings, given potential methodological limitations of several studies. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed

Smartwatch aids time-based prospective memory in Korsakoff syndrome: a case study

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Self-projection in early childhood: no evidence for a common underpinning of episodic memory, episodic future thinking, theory of mind, and spatial navigation

Buckner and Carroll [Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2007), Vol. 11, pp. 49–57] argued that episodic memory (EM), episodic future think- ing (EFT), theory of mind (ToM), and spatial navigation all build on the same mental mechanism—self-projection, that is, the ability to disengage from the immediate present and shift perspective to alternative temporal, mental, or spatial situations. Developmental studies indeed show that all four abilities undergo profound developmental changes around 4 years of age, and there are first indications of developmental interrelations between some of the abilities. However, strong evidence for the self-projection account, namely that all four abilities are interrelated in their emergence during early childhood, is still lacking. To thoroughly investigate the self-projection hypothesis, we tested 151 4-year-old children on 12 different tasks assessing their EM, EFT, ToM, and spatial navigation skills (3 tasks per ability). Structural equation modeling under maximum likelihood estimation was conducted on a final sample of 144 children to evaluate a model with the 12 tasks as indicators and self-projection as the latent factor. The model showed a very good fit to the data. However, the factor loadings, indicating the strength of association between the latent factor and the indicators, were very low—which speaks against the validity of the measurement model. In summary, the results do not support the assumption of a common latent factor underlying the various abilities EM, EFT, ToM, and spatial navigation. Implications of our results for the self-projection account and possible related theoretical and methodological challenges are discussed.Education and Child Studie

Driving the Future: The Relation between Driving and Prospective Memory in Adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

Difficulties with autonomy impact several quality-of-life outcomes in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Driving is an important step towards gaining autonomy by allowing the development and maintenance of work- and social-related contacts. Nonetheless, people with ASD depend highly on friends and family for their transportation needs. Due to the complexity of the driving task, specific ASD characteristics might interfere negatively with driving. The driving task consists of several subtasks, running in parallel. This requires the ability to switch in a smooth manner (e.g., shifting, steering, changing lanes, and keeping traffic rules into account). An additional difficulty concerns sudden changes in the traffic environment (e.g., traffic density, weather conditions). Therefore, driving is a complex goal-directed task that places high demands on perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes. The little research that exists suggests that people with ASD experience difficulties more specifically in complex driving situations, requiring multi-tasking and inducing increased cognitive load. Applied to autonomy, in order to maintain work and social contacts, it is not only necessary to handle the vehicle, but also to navigate through rural, urban, and highway traffic environments while concurrently remembering appointments and obeying a schedule. People with ASD however experience difficulties with coordinating and sequencing activities, and with planning ahead. Following this, prospective memory (PM) might interfere negatively with driving. PM is the ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future while being engaged in other ongoing activities. Two subtypes of PM are event-based PM (EBPM) and time-based PM (TBPM). The former refers to the execution of intentions at certain events (i.e., prospective cues), the latter refers to the execution of intentions at certain times. This driving simulator study aims to investigate PM (i.e., EBPM and TBPM) as an underlying mechanism of driving in adults with ASD. To this end, a pc-based ‘virtual reality (VR) city task’ was translated to a driving simulator environment. The influence of several cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory, planning), from which the importance is indicated in previous literature, is also investigated. Data collection is ongoing and will be finished in December. The analyses are planned in January

Effects of episodic future thinking and self-projection on children’s prospective memory performance

The present study is the first to investigate the benefits of episodic future thinking (EFT) at encoding on prospective memory (PM) in preschool (age: M = 66.34 months, SD = 3.28)and primary school children (age: M = 88.36 months, SD = 3.12). A second aim was to examine if self-projection influences the possible effects of EFT instructions. PM was assessed using a standard PM paradigm in children with a picture-naming task as the ongoing activity in which the PM task was embedded. Further, two first- and two second-order ToM tasks were administered as indicator of children’s self-projection abilities. Forty-one preschoolers and 39 school-aged children were recruited. Half of the participants in each age group were instructed to use EFT as a strategy to encode the PM task, while the others received standard PM instructions. Results revealed a significant age effect, with school-aged children significantly outperforming preschoolers and a significant effect of encoding condition with overall better performance when receiving EFT instructions compared to the standard encoding condition. Even though the interaction between age group and encoding condition was not significant, planned comparisons revealed first evidence that compared to the younger age group, older children’s PM benefited more from EFT instructions during intention encoding. Moreover, results showed that although self-projection had a significant impact on PM performance, it did not influence the effects of EFT instructions. Overall, results indicate that children can use EFT encoding strategies to improve their PM performance once EFT abilities are sufficiently developed. Further, they provide first evidence that in addition to executive functions, which have already been shown to influence the development of PM across childhood, self-projection seems to be another key mechanism underlying this development

Episodic future thinking together with observational learning benefits propspective memory in high-functioning Korsakoff's syndrome patients

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The association between past and future oriented thinking: Evidence from autism spectrum disorder

A number of recently developed theories (e.g., the constructive episodic simulation, self-projection, and scene construction hypotheses) propose that the ability to simulate possible future events (sometimes referred to as episodic future thinking, prospection, or foresight) depends on the same neurocognitive system that is implicated in the recall of past events (episodic memory). In this paper, we argue that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) offers an ideal test of such theories, given that it is a developmental disorder that is characterized by impairments in episodic memory. Each of these theories would predict concomitant impairments in episodic future thinking among individuals with ASD. We review evidence concerning episodic future thinking in ASD, as well as studies of prospective memory (remembering to do something in the future), planning, navigation, and theory of mind, which some theories suggest also rely on the same mechanism as episodic future thinking

Does the use of the 2009 FIGO classification of endometrial cancer impact on indications of the sentinel node biopsy?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lymphadenectomy is debated in early stages endometrial cancer. Moreover, a new FIGO classification of endometrial cancer, merging stages IA and IB has been recently published. Therefore, the aims of the present study was to evaluate the relevance of the sentinel node (SN) procedure in women with endometrial cancer and to discuss whether the use of the 2009 FIGO classification could modify the indications for SN procedure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighty-five patients with endometrial cancer underwent the SN procedure followed by pelvic lymphadenectomy. SNs were detected with a dual or single labelling method in 74 and 11 cases, respectively. All SNs were analysed by both H&E staining and immunohistochemistry. Presumed stage before surgery was assessed for all patients based on MR imaging features using the 1988 FIGO classification and the 2009 FIGO classification.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An SN was detected in 88.2% of cases (75/85 women). Among the fourteen patients with lymph node metastases one-half were detected by serial sectioning and immunohistochemical analysis. There were no false negative case. Using the 1988 FIGO classification and the 2009 FIGO classification, the correlation between preoperative MRI staging and final histology was moderate with Kappa = 0.24 and Kappa = 0.45, respectively. None of the patients with grade 1 endometrioid carcinoma on biopsy and IA 2009 FIGO stage on MR imaging exhibited positive SN. In patients with grade 2-3 endometrioid carcinoma and stage IA on MR imaging, the rate of positive SN reached 16.6% with an incidence of micrometastases of 50%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study suggests that sentinel node biopsy is an adequate technique to evaluate lymph node status. The use of the 2009 FIGO classification increases the accuracy of MR imaging to stage patients with early stages of endometrial cancer and contributes to clarify the indication of SN biopsy according to tumour grade and histological type.</p

'Everyday memory' impairments in autism spectrum disorders

‘Everyday memory’ is conceptualised as memory within the context of day-to-day life and, despite its functional relevance, has been little studied in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). In the first study of its kind, 94 adolescents with an ASD and 55 without an ASD completed measures of everyday memory from the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) and a standard word recall task (Children’s Auditory Verbal Learning Test-2: CAVLT-2). The ASD group showed significant impairments on the RBMT, including in prospective memory, alongside impaired performance on the CAVLT-2. Social and communication ability was significantly associated with prospective remembering in an everyday memory context but not with the CAVLT-2. The complex nature of everyday memory and its relevance to ASD is discussed