Section of Geriatric Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Network Aging Research, Institute of Psychology, Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2022 Jan;29(1):158-179. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1859082. Epub 2021 Jan 5.
Autobiographic memory (AM) - which is generally considered to be the most advanced human memory system - is subject to a myriad of psychological and neurobiological factors. We, therefore, examined AM longitudinally during the transition from midlife to young-old age and from young-old to old age in two birth cohorts (born 1930-1932 and 1950-1952) hence starting at age 55.14 ± 0.94 vs. 73.85 ± 0.96, respectively. Participants ( = 239) of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Adult Development and Aging were recruited of whom 166 could be reexamined after 9 ± 0.9 years. AM was investigated for three periods of life using an established semi-structured interview; potential cognitive decline was assessed on a broad test battery. All subjects stayed cognitively healthy. Analysis of variance with repeated measures revealed age-related semantization effects with a significantly lower number of specific and thereby a higher number of general AMs exclusively from young-old to old age. This effect did not coincide with cognitive decline. In the follow-up period, a significant decrease of event-related details was significantly more pronounced in the young-old than in the old cohort and details were better recalled by the young than the old cohort. At baseline, this difference was significant for the recent past only but involved all periods at follow-up. According to our findings, AM changes in healthy aging accelerate during the transition from young-old to old age and may herald other cognitive deficits. Additionally, these AM changes in cognitively healthy subjects point at an economic process of adaptation.
自传体记忆（AM）-通常被认为是最先进的人类记忆系统-受到众多心理和神经生物学因素的影响。因此，我们在从中年到老年前期以及从老年前期到老年的两个出生队列中（分别出生于 1930-1932 年和 1950-1952 年）进行了 AM 的纵向研究，因此分别从 55.14 ± 0.94 岁和 73.85 ± 0.96 岁开始。跨学科成人发展与衰老纵向研究的参与者（n = 239）被招募，其中 166 人在 9 ± 0.9 年后可以重新检查。使用既定的半结构化访谈研究了 AM 的三个生命阶段；在广泛的测试电池上评估了潜在的认知下降。所有受试者均保持认知健康。重复测量方差分析显示，年龄相关的语义化效应，特定 AM 的数量明显减少，通用 AM 的数量明显增加，仅从老年前期到老年期。这种效应与认知下降无关。在随访期间，事件相关细节的显著减少在老年前期比老年组更为明显，年轻人比老年人更能回忆起细节。在基线时，这种差异仅在最近的过去是显著的，但在随访期间涉及所有时期。根据我们的发现，健康衰老过程中 AM 的变化在从中年到老年前期的过渡期间加速，并且可能预示着其他认知缺陷。此外，认知健康受试者的这些 AM 变化表明了一种适应的经济过程。
