Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0251, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2011 Jan;17(1):101-11. doi: 10.1017/S135561771000130X. Epub 2010 Nov 15.
Practice Effects (PE) have been gaining interest as an early marker of pathological cognitive decline among older adults, with cognitively compromised individuals exhibiting diminished or absent PE, presumably due to reduced ability to learn. However, the opposite pattern has also been observed, with MCI participants showing larger PEs than controls. In this prospective cohort study, we examined the possibility that individuals with incipient cognitive decline may be more "thrown" by task novelty, which may inflate PE due to diminished performance during the first exposure to the task. We assessed Novelty Effect (NE) and Learning (LRN) on a motor task in 50 community-dwelling independent older adults who expressed a concern about their cognition. Results showed that larger NE was associated with greater cognitive decline 17 months later, reliably classifying participants into decliners and nondecliners. LRN did not independently explain any variance in future cognitive change, but moderated the relationship between NE and decline and correlated with the level of cognition at baseline and follow-up. These findings highlight the differing contributions of NE and LRN to PE, and demonstrate that NE may be sensitive to depletion of cognitive reserve among individuals who are on the verge of exhibiting a reliable cognitive decline.
练习效应 (PE) 作为老年人病理性认知衰退的早期标志物越来越受到关注，认知受损的个体表现出 PE 减少或缺失，可能是由于学习能力下降所致。然而，也观察到了相反的模式，即 MCI 参与者的 PE 大于对照组。在这项前瞻性队列研究中，我们研究了认知能力开始下降的个体可能更容易受到任务新颖性的影响的可能性，这可能会由于个体在首次接触任务时表现不佳而导致 PE 增加。我们在 50 名具有认知担忧的社区居住的独立老年人中评估了一项运动任务的新奇效应 (NE) 和学习效应 (LRN)。结果表明，更大的 NE 与 17 个月后更大的认知下降相关，可靠地将参与者分为下降者和非下降者。LRN 并不能独立解释未来认知变化的任何差异，但可以调节 NE 和下降之间的关系，并且与基线和随访时的认知水平相关。这些发现强调了 NE 和 LRN 对 PE 的不同贡献，并表明 NE 可能对处于可靠认知下降边缘的个体的认知储备耗竭敏感。
