Poster Session 1, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM: Room 163 [C15]

The Role of Targeted Memory Reactivation in Declarative Memory Consolidation in Older Adults

Presenter: Lilian San

Faculty Sponsor: Rebecca Spencer

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

ABSTRACT

Sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation. However, sleep quality and memory performance decline with aging. Studies have shown that selective memory can be enhanced via targeted memory reactivation. Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) is the latest approach to enhance memory by introducing sensory cues such as odors and sounds during learning and reintroducing them during subsequent sleep. TMR is effective in young adults for improving declarative memory. The effectiveness in older adults has not been studied, hence, this study investigates how TMR enhances declarative memory consolidation in older adults. Nine older adults, aged 65-80, participated in the study and completed both experimental and control conditions. In both conditions, during the learning/encoding phase, participants were exposed to odors while learning the locations of 30 neutral pictures. These odors were reintroduced during slow-wave sleep (SWS). The participants were tested on their recall of all picture locations the following morning. Preliminary results from experimental conditions showed that there is no improvement in memory recall after sleep for either cued or non-cued items. Additionally, the control condition showed that there is no significant decline in memory. The limited sample size led to inconclusive results, therefore, we hypothesize that a larger sample size will help us determine whether targeted memory reactivation can enhance declarative memory consolidation in older adults.   

 

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