Department of Psychology, York University, Canada.
Department of Psychology and Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) Program, York University and Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Canada.
Neuropsychologia. 2019 Nov;134:107179. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107179. Epub 2019 Sep 18.
The Self-Reference Effect (SRE), enhanced memory for self-related information, has been established in healthy young and older adults but has had limited study in age-related memory disorders such as amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI). Additionally, the majority of SRE studies have been conducted using trait adjective paradigms, which lack ecological validity; memory for narrative information has real-world importance and has been shown to decline in healthy aging and, to a greater extent, in aMCI. The present study investigated whether self-referential processing promotes memory for narrative information in healthy aging and, for the first time, in aMCI. The promotion of recollection (vivid re-experiencing of an event) through self-referential processing, termed the Self-Reference Recollection Effect (SRRE; Conway and Dewhurst, 1995), was also examined, as was the potential impact of material valence on the SRE. Twenty individuals with aMCI and thirty healthy older controls encoded short narratives under self-reference, semantic, and structural conditions. Memory for narrative details was subsequently tested. Results indicated a SRE for narrative information in both aMCI and healthy control groups on a recognition memory test. The SRRE was found in healthy controls and individuals with aMCI. Material valence did not impact the SRE in either group. The SRE appears to be powerful enough to circumvent loss of hippocampal function in aMCI, possibly due to the multimodal nature of narrative information. Findings from this study highlight the potential of the SRE as an effective intervention tool for improving memory for narrative information in aMCI.
自我参照效应（SRE）是指对与自我相关的信息的记忆增强，已在健康的年轻和老年成年人中得到证实，但在与年龄相关的记忆障碍（如遗忘型轻度认知障碍[aMCI]）中研究有限。此外，大多数 SRE 研究都是使用特质形容词范式进行的，这些范式缺乏生态有效性；对叙事信息的记忆具有现实世界的重要性，并且已经表明在健康老化中会下降，并且在更大程度上在 aMCI 中会下降。本研究调查了自我参照处理是否在健康老化中促进了叙事信息的记忆，并且首次在 aMCI 中进行了研究。通过自我参照处理促进回忆（对事件的生动重新体验），称为自我参照回忆效应（SRRE；Conway 和 Dewhurst，1995），也进行了研究，以及材料效价对 SRE 的潜在影响。20 名 aMCI 患者和 30 名健康老年对照组在自我参照、语义和结构条件下对短叙事进行编码。随后测试了对叙事细节的记忆。结果表明，在识别记忆测试中，aMCI 和健康对照组的叙事信息均存在 SRE。在健康对照组和 aMCI 患者中均发现了 SRRE。在两组中，材料效价均未影响 SRE。SRE 似乎足够强大，可以规避 aMCI 中海马功能的丧失，这可能是由于叙事信息的多模态性质。这项研究的结果强调了 SRE 作为改善 aMCI 中叙事信息记忆的有效干预工具的潜力。
