Department of Psychology, McGill University 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1B1.
Baycrest Health Sciences, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1.
Neuropsychologia. 2015 Feb;68:168-75. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.005. Epub 2015 Jan 6.
It is well accepted that the medial temporal lobes (MTL), and the hippocampus specifically, support episodic memory processes. Emerging evidence suggests that these processes also support the ability to effectively solve ill-defined problems which are those that do not have a set routine or solution. To test the relation between episodic memory and problem solving, we examined the ability of individuals with single domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a condition characterized by episodic memory impairment, to solve ill-defined social problems. Participants with aMCI and age and education matched controls were given a battery of tests that included standardized neuropsychological measures, the Autobiographical Interview (Levine et al., 2002) that scored for episodic content in descriptions of past personal events, and a measure of ill-defined social problem solving. Corroborating previous findings, the aMCI group generated less episodically rich narratives when describing past events. Individuals with aMCI also generated less effective solutions when solving ill-defined problems compared to the control participants. Correlation analyses demonstrated that the ability to recall episodic elements from autobiographical memories was positively related to the ability to effectively solve ill-defined problems. The ability to solve these ill-defined problems was related to measures of activities of daily living. In conjunction with previous reports, the results of the present study point to a new functional role of episodic memory in ill-defined goal-directed behavior and other non-memory tasks that require flexible thinking. Our findings also have implications for the cognitive and behavioural profile of aMCI by suggesting that the ability to effectively solve ill-defined problems is related to sustained functional independence.
人们普遍认为，内侧颞叶（MTL），特别是海马体，支持情景记忆过程。新出现的证据表明，这些过程还支持有效解决定义不明确问题的能力，即那些没有固定程序或解决方案的问题。为了测试情景记忆和问题解决之间的关系，我们检查了具有单一领域遗忘型轻度认知障碍（aMCI）的个体的能力，这种情况的特征是情景记忆障碍，以解决定义不明确的社会问题。患有 aMCI 且年龄和教育程度相匹配的参与者接受了一系列测试，包括标准化神经心理学测试、自传体访谈（Levine 等人，2002 年），该测试对过去个人事件描述中的情景内容进行评分，以及一种衡量定义不明确的社会问题解决能力的测试。与之前的发现一致，aMCI 组在描述过去事件时产生的情景内容较少。与对照组相比，患有 aMCI 的个体在解决定义不明确的问题时产生的解决方案效果也较差。相关分析表明，从自传体记忆中回忆情景元素的能力与有效解决定义不明确问题的能力呈正相关。解决这些定义不明确问题的能力与日常生活活动的测量值相关。结合之前的报告，本研究的结果指向情景记忆在定义不明确的目标导向行为和其他需要灵活思维的非记忆任务中的新功能作用。我们的研究结果还对 aMCI 的认知和行为特征提出了影响，表明有效解决定义不明确问题的能力与持续的功能独立性有关。
