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Level of Recall, Retrieval Speed, and Variability on the Cued-Recall Retrieval Speed Task (CRRST) in Individuals with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Wendy S. Ramratan*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York
Laura A. Rabin
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York
Cuiling Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York
Molly E. Zimmerman
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York
Mindy J. Katz
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York
Richard B. Lipton
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York
Herman Buschke
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and the Einstein Aging Study, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Wendy S. Ramratan, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1165 Morris Park Avenue, Rousso Building, Room 343, Bronx, NY 10461. E-mail: wendy.ramratan@einstein.yu.edu

Abstract

Individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) show deficits on traditional episodic memory tasks and reductions in speed of performance on reaction time tasks. We present results on a novel task, the Cued-Recall Retrieval Speed Task (CRRST), designed to simultaneously measure level and speed of retrieval. A total of 390 older adults (mean age, 80.2 years), learned 16 words based on corresponding categorical cues. In the retrieval phase, we measured accuracy (% correct) and retrieval speed/reaction time (RT; time from cue presentation to voice onset of a correct response) across 6 trials. Compared to healthy elderly adults (HEA, n = 303), those with aMCI (n = 87) exhibited poorer performance in retrieval speed (difference = −0.13; p < .0001) and accuracy on the first trial (difference = −0.19; p < .0001), and their rate of improvement in retrieval speed was slower over subsequent trials. Those with aMCI also had greater within-person variability in processing speed (variance ratio = 1.22; p = .0098) and greater between-person variability in accuracy (variance ratio = 2.08; p = .0001) relative to HEA. Results are discussed in relation to the possibility that computer-based measures of cued-learning and processing speed variability may facilitate early detection of dementia in at-risk older adults. (JINS, 2012, 18, 260–268)

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2012

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