On the mechanisms of plasticity in young and older adults after instruction in the method of loci: Evidence for an amplification model.

“…against the magnification effects (i.e., smaller effects for older than for younger participants) often found for strategy training (for an early meta-analysis, see Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996), possibly because the correct implementation of complex strategies depends on intact cognitive resources.”

“The memory control group underwent a one-day training workshop in the method of loci, a technique used to memorize items in an ordered sequence [59,60].”

“These differences are critical, given that previous research has indicated that quite subtle procedural variations can affect the degree of transfer (Derwinger et al., 2003; Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“Mnemonics are reported to be effective in memory remediation in elderl”

“…adults tended to improve more in navigation performance from navigation training, runs counter to several studies reporting smaller effects of cognitive training in older than in younger adults (e.g., Brehmer et al., 2007; Dahlin et al., 2008; Kliegl et al., 1990; Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“The present results point to a central role of measures of perceptual speed in predicting memory plasticity (see also Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996 ).”

“…in plasticity (i.e., the potential for the neurocognitive system to adapt) may be apparent not only for older relative to younger adults, but also for old–old relative to young–old adults (e.g., Baltes and Kliegl, 1992; Nyberg, 2005; Verhaeghen et al., 1992; Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“This structured sequence of images provides memory cues to facilitate recall (Hill et al., 1991; Kliegl, Smith, & Baltes, 1989, 1990; Rebok & Balcerak, 1989; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996; Yesavage, 1984).”

“More recently, the widespread absence of transfer effects as well as findings indicating low strategy use among older participants (Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996) have led to a shift in intervention design.”

“The gains observed on test scores were mirrored, in part, by changes in strategy usage, as reported in other studies ( Dunlosky et al, 2003 ; Saczynski, Rebok, Whitfield, & Plude, 2007 ; Troyer, 2001 ; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996 ; Woolverton et al, 2001 ).”

“Regarding memory behaviours, previous research (e.g., Scogin & Bienias, 1988; Troyer, 2001; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996) indicates that many individuals who learn new memory strategies do not use them outside of the training situation.”

“In this study, children, younger adults, and older adults were first taught and then allowed to practice memory performance with an interactive imagery mnemonic, akin to the Method of Loci (Bower, 1970).”

“To elucidate the mechanisms behind memory plasticity, Verhaegen and Marcoen (1996) tested older and younger persons on the MoL.”

“Consistent with past research (Bäckman et al., 2001), middle-aged and older adults scored lower on the digit symbol substitution (Wechsler, 1981), F(2, 332) ¼ 101.35, p , .001, and had better Shipley (1940) vocabulary scores than did the young adults, F(2, 331) ¼ 3.41, p , .05.”

“…and that the cognitive system shows decreasing plasticity with advancing age (P. B. Baltes & Kliegl, 1992; Singer, Lindenberger, & Baltes, 2000; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996), one might expect a rather general negative effect of somatic health on cognitive functioning, apart from the specific…”

“There is some evidence that the effects of memory training are likely to be enhanced for those who are younger and begin training with more cognitive resources (Bissig & Lustig, 2007; Unverzagt et al., 2007; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996; Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goossens, 1992).”

“The MoL involves teaching patients to visualize a series of familiar locations, visualize an imagined word representing each to-be-remembered item, and mentally place each item into a corresponding location [14,15].”

“…a particular task, whereas their transfer to other tasks/situations is rare, especially in older adults, who often do not spontaneously use such strategies after completing their training (e.g., Rebok, Carlson, & Langbaum, 2007; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996; Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goossens, 1992).”

“Evidence for this view comes often—but not exclusively—frommemory strategy training studies applyingmnemonic techniques, such as the method of loci (e.g., Baltes and Kliegl 1992; Brehmer et al. 2007; Lindenberger et al. 1992; Verhaeghen and Marcoen 1996).”

“…of a magnification effect (also known as amplification or Matthew effect; Kliegl, Smith, & Baltes, 1990; Lövdén, Brehmer, Li, & Lindenberger, 2012; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996), suggesting that younger individuals benefit more from cognitive training, as they have the additional cognitive…”

“It has been demonstrated that the young-old have remarkable capacities to maintain their professional skills (Krampe & Charness, 2006) or acquire new learning skills (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996) through deliberate practice.”

“…1992; Yesavage, Sheikh, Friedman, & Tanke, 1990) and those with initially higher cognitive functioning (Hill, Yesavage, Sheikh, & Friedman, 1989; Langbaum, Rebok, Bandeen-Roche, & Carlson, 2009; McKitrick et al., 1999; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996; Yesavage et al., 1990) benefit more from training.”

“…adults in a variety of tasks including visual and memory search (Rogers, 1992; Rogers, Fisk, & Hertzog, 1994), attentional control (Bherer et al., 2006), and memory and mnemonic skill (Baltes & Kliegl, 1992; Nyberg et al., 2003 Verhaeghen, Carcoen, & Goossens, 1992; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“One study showed that 22% of the older participants failed to comply with instructions in memory strategy training [Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996].”

“Although this research has demonstrated improvements after training (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996), concerns have surfaced concerning the applicability of the findings.”

“…1992 ; Caprio-Prevette & Fry, 1996 ; Rasmusson, Rebok, Bylsma, & Brandt, 1999 ; Singer, Lindenberger, & Baltes, 2003 ; Stigsdotter & Bäckman, 1989 ; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996 ; Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goossens, 1992 ), speed of processing ( Ball et al., 2002 ; Edwards et al., 2002 ), or reasoning…”

“This structured sequence of images provides memory cues to facilitate recall, leading to improved memory performance for older adults (Hill, Allen, & McWhorter, 1991; Kliegl, Smith, & Baltes, 1989, 1990; Rebok & Balcerak, 1989; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996; Yesavage & Rose, 1984).”

“Prior research suggests that factors contributing to individual variability in response to CT may include fluid intelligence, mental status, verbal ability and compliance in implementing CT strategies (8).”

“…learning, arithmetic computation, inductive reasoning, episodic memory, and mnemonic techniques (Dunlosky & Hertzog, 2001; Dunlosky, Kubat-Silman, & Hertzog, 2003; Hertzog & Dunlosky, 2004; Lemaire, Arnaud, & Lecacheur, 2004; Saczynski, Willis, & Schaie, 2002; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“The studies cited above support the amplification model, according to which memory changes during a training depend on the cognitive resources before the training (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“For instance, older adults show a more limited repertoire of strategies, less consistent strategy usage, and poorer-quality mediators than younger adults (Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998 ; Dunlosky, Hertzog, & Powell-Moman, 2005 ; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996 ).”

“This suggests that the amount of cognitive improvement is reduced in older age (e.g., Singer et al., 2003) and can be described with an amplification model (Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“…use, less efficient strategy use, and smaller magnitude of gain following strategy training (Brigham & Presseley, 1988; Saczynski et al., 2002; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996; Verhaeghen et al., 1992), it was surprising that age was related to strategy use only on the Names & Faces memory task.”

“…indicates that plasticity in healthy older adults can be best described through an amplification model, in which the correlates of plasticity are positively related to pretest performance, resulting in lower baseline performance being related to lower training benefits (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“When the list is recalled, the participant mentally goes through its mental route, retrieving the associated image at each locus (Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“Through encouraging participants to use the MoL technique with direct instruction and thorough explanation, it was hoped to increase compliance in participants, which has been shown to be a problem in MoL experiments with particularly older people (Verhaeghen and Marcoen 1996).”

“…to the limited efficacy (in terms of generalizability and durability) of the traditional strategy-based memory training for older adults (Floyd & Scogin, 1997), who often fail to exploit the mnemonic techniques they have learned after completing training (e.g. verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“Moreover, cognitive training studies report associations between increased use of strategies and improvement on targeted abilities (Saczynski et al., 2002; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“In addition, older participants have shown compliance challenges with strategy training relative to young participants (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“On no account does education affect training gains as an amplification factor (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“[165]).”

“At retrieval, participants simply walked their route to retrieve the association made between the location and the items on the list (Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“Results show that episodic memory can be improved by training, and that the effects are well maintained (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“However, at least in younger adults, Verhaeghen and Marcoen (1996) found that visual working memory predicted training gains beyond a measure of episodic memory.”

“…who show higher performance on cognitive ability measures and demonstrate higher baseline performance in memory training programmes subsequently gain more from instruction and practice of mnemonic strategies (Bissig & Lustig, 2007; Kliegl, Smith, & Baltes, 1990; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“These abilities are not only individually very diverse but they also often decrease with age in different aspects of work requirements and work specific abilities (Baltes et al. 1989; Classen and Cohen 2003; Verhaeghen and Marcoen 1996).”

“These studies support the amplification model according to which individuals with a higher initial performance have more efficient cognitive resources, which, in turn, allow them to benefit more from mnemonic training (Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”

“752 Psychiatry Investig 20200;17(8):751-761 strated comparable effects in older adults and young adults.”

“Notably, nearly all professional mnemonists are known to apply various encoding strategies, such as the famous method of loci, where objects are associated with familiar locations, after which the objects may be recalled by imaging the locations (490).”

“It must be noted, however, that other studies found reduced (yet substantial) memory benefits from encoding strategies in older adults, especially for complex multi-step mnemonic techniques (Kliegl, Smith, & Baltes, 1989, 1990; Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996).”

“In all sessions, participants were encouraged to create bizarre or exaggerated images/ associations/stories for better recall (Verhaeghen & Marcoen, 1996) and had no time limitation to create them.”

“…of perceptual speed and working memory predicts the degree to which individuals benefit from memory training programs (Kliegl, Smith, and Baltes, 1990; Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996), supporting the notion that individual differences are magnified by training (Baltes, 1987; Lövden et al., 2012).”

“…in self-reported VVI, OI and SI have been reported, but the results are not consistent (Campos and Sueiro, 1993; Carretti et al., 2007; Chabris et al., 2006; Isaac and Marks, 1994; Kemps and Newson, 2005; Kliegl et al., 1990; McKelvie, 1995; Vannucci et al., 2006; Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996).”