Stanford/VA Aging Clinical Research Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1290, USA.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2011;27(4):885-95. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2011-110950.
Memory function generally deteriorates with age, and memory impairments are a common symptom of serious illness such as dementia. Although screening tests are widely used throughout Medicine, they are not yet commonly used to detect memory impairments. The objective of this study was to characterize an audience-based memory test suitable for administration to a large number of individuals simultaneously. A continuous recognition test was developed to assess memory function in audiences using a slide-show in which 50 images were presented, of which 25 were repeated. Audience members responded by recording if an image was a repetition. The test was administered to a total of 1018 participants at 25 sites with an average audience size of 41 individuals (range = 9-142). A total of 868 individuals aged 40-97 y completed the test appropriately and provided their age, education level, and gender. Recognition memory as measured by discriminability (d') showed a significant decline with age (40-49 y old, d' = 3.51; 90-99 y old, d' = 1.95, p < 0.001) together with a greater than three-fold increase in variability. Individuals with less than 13 y of education had lower scores than those with more education (d' = 2.13 vs. 2.88, respectively, p < 0.001). These results are consistent with the known effects of age and education on memory. There were no significant effects of gender on test performance. Such memory tests represent a practical and novel approach to screen for the signs of early dementia.
记忆功能通常随年龄增长而下降，记忆障碍是痴呆等严重疾病的常见症状。尽管筛选测试在医学领域广泛应用，但它们尚未广泛用于检测记忆障碍。本研究的目的是描述一种适合同时对大量个体进行测试的基于受众的记忆测试。我们开发了一种连续识别测试，通过幻灯片演示来评估观众的记忆功能，其中展示了 50 张图片，其中 25 张是重复的。观众通过记录图像是否重复来作答。该测试在 25 个地点共对 1018 名参与者进行了测试，平均每个地点的观众人数为 41 人（范围为 9-142 人）。共有 868 名年龄在 40-97 岁的个体完成了测试，并提供了他们的年龄、教育水平和性别。识别记忆的可辨别性（d'）随着年龄的增长呈显著下降（40-49 岁，d'=3.51；90-99 岁，d'=1.95，p<0.001），同时可变性增加了三倍多。受教育程度少于 13 年的个体的得分低于受教育程度较高的个体（d'分别为 2.13 和 2.88，p<0.001）。这些结果与年龄和教育对记忆的已知影响一致。性别对测试表现没有显著影响。这种记忆测试是一种实用且新颖的方法，可以筛查早期痴呆的迹象。
