The similar effects of verbal and non-verbal intervening tasks on word recall in an elderly population.

Vulnerability to retroactive interference has been shown to increase with cognitive aging. Consistent with the findings of memory and aging literature, the authors of the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) suggest that a non-verbal task be administered during the test's delay interval to minimize the effects of retroactive interference on delayed recall. The goal of the present study was to determine the extent to which retroactive interference caused by non-verbal and verbal intervening tasks affects recall of verbal information in non-demented, older adults. The effects of retroactive interference on recall of words during Long-Delay recall on the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) were evaluated. Participants included 85 adults age 60 and older. During a 20-minute delay interval on the CVLT-II, participants received either a verbal (WAIS-III Vocabulary or Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-IIIB) or non-verbal (Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices or WAIS-III Block Design) intervening task. Similarly to previous research with young adults (Williams & Donovick, 2008), older adults recalled the same number of words across all groups, regardless of the type of intervening task. These findings suggest that the administration of verbal intervening tasks during the CVLT-II do not elicit more retroactive interference than non-verbal intervening tasks, and thus verbal tasks need not be avoided during the delay interval of the CVLT-II.

Clinical presentation and differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies: a review.

BACKGROUND: Dementia with Lewy bodies is one of the most prevalent dementia diagnoses. However, differential diagnosis between dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease with dementia can still be very difficult given the overlap in neuropathology, clinical presentation, cognitive, and neuroanatomical changes. METHOD: A literature review of dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease with dementia was conducted using PubMed. RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS: Accurate diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies is crucial in order to more accurately predict the progression of the disease and negative side effects from pharmacological treatment. The differences and similarities between dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease with dementia are highlighted in order to aid clinicians in differential diagnosis.

Intervening tasks and visuospatial memory: the role of similarity in retroactive interference.

Verbal tasks are often administered during the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) delay period in order to minimize retroactive interference resulting from similarity between tests (Meyers & Meyers, 1995). However, previous studies showed that similarity between the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) and intervening tasks administered during the delay period did not affect memory performance on the CVLT-II. In the current study we examined whether intervening tasks similar to the ROCFT would increase retroactive interference compared to dissimilar tasks, thereby negatively impacting visuospatial memory performance. A total of 106 undergraduate students were divided into three groups. Each group completed different intervening tasks during the ROCFT delay interval. Groups did not differ on copy, immediate recall, and delayed recall trials of the ROCFT. However, a repeated-measures ANOVA revealed an interaction between group and trial (p < .001), suggesting group performance on the ROCFT was differentially impacted by the intervening task. Planned comparisons indicated that the group completing two similar non-verbal intervening tasks had poorer memory of the complex figure and performed significantly worse on recognition (p = .003) and percent retention (p < .001) trials, respectively. This suggests that similarity of intervening tasks impacts memory performance on a complex figure test.