University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2013 Apr;25(4):657-65. doi: 10.1017/S1041610212002013. Epub 2012 Dec 12.
There is evidence that individuals perform better on some memory tasks when tested at their preferred time of day, a phenomenon named the synchrony effect. There is also evidence of a predictable change from evening to morning preference during the adult life span. Together, these findings suggest that age effects on memory measures may be overestimated when time of testing is ignored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether synchrony effects could partially explain the well-documented age-related decline in performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT).
Groups of 42 younger adults (aged 18-33 years) and 42 older adults (aged 55-71 years) were administered the RAVLT at either their optimal (n = 21) or non-optimal (n = 21) time of day.
Although both age groups benefited moderately from being tested at their optimal time, this effect was greater for older participants and extended to all facets of RAVLT performance except proactive interference. However, younger adults outperformed older adults on three of the five RAVLTs.
These findings add to existing evidence of synchrony effects, particularly in memory functioning of older adults, and highlight the need for clinicians to consider optimal time of testing when administering and interpreting the RAVLT.
有证据表明，个体在其偏好的一天中的某个时间进行某些记忆任务时表现更好，这种现象被称为同步效应。也有证据表明，在成年期，从晚上到早上的偏好会有可预测的变化。这些发现表明，如果忽略测试时间，那么对记忆测试的年龄效应的估计可能过高。本研究旨在探讨同步效应是否可以部分解释已被充分记录的与年龄相关的 Rey 听觉言语学习测试（RAVLT）表现下降的现象。
42 名年轻成年人（年龄 18-33 岁）和 42 名年长成年人（年龄 55-71 岁）被分为两组，分别在他们的最佳（n = 21）或非最佳（n = 21）时间进行 RAVLT 测试。
尽管两个年龄组在最佳时间进行测试时都适度受益，但对于年长参与者来说，这种效果更大，并扩展到 RAVLT 表现的所有方面，除了前摄干扰。然而，年轻成年人在五个 RAVLT 中有三个的表现优于年长成年人。
这些发现增加了同步效应的现有证据，特别是在年长成年人的记忆功能方面，并强调了临床医生在进行和解释 RAVLT 时需要考虑最佳测试时间的必要性。
