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Working Memory Mediates the Relationship between Intellectual Enrichment and Long-Term Memory in Multiple Sclerosis: An Exploratory Analysis of Cognitive Reserve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2014

Joshua Sandry  and
James F. Sumowski
Joshua Sandry*
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory, Kessler Foundation, West Orange, NJ, and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School
James F. Sumowski
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory, Kessler Foundation, West Orange, NJ, and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Joshua Sandry, Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory, Kessler Foundation, 300 Executive Drive, Suite 70, West Orange, NJ 07052. E-mail: jsandry@kesslerfoundation.org
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Abstract

Some individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) show decrements in long-term memory (LTM) while other individuals do not. The theory of cognitive reserve suggests that individuals with greater pre-morbid intellectual enrichment are protected from disease-related cognitive decline. How intellectual enrichment affords this benefit remains poorly understood. The present study tested an exploratory meditational hypothesis whereby working memory (WM) capacity may mediate the relationship between intellectual enrichment and verbal LTM decline in MS. Intellectual enrichment, verbal LTM, and WM capacity were estimated with the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, delayed recall of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised and Logical Memory of the Wechsler Memory Scale, and Digit Span Total, respectively. Intellectual enrichment predicted LTM (B=.54; p=.003) and predicted WM capacity (B=.91; p<.001). WM capacity predicted LTM, (B=.44; p<.001) and fully mediated the relationship between intellectual enrichment (B=.24; p=.27) and LTM (B=.33, p=.03), Sobel test, Z=3.31, p<.001. These findings implicate WM capacity as an underlying mechanism of cognitive reserve and are an initial first step in understanding the relationship between intellectual enrichment, WM, and LTM in MS. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–5)

Keywords

Multiple sclerosisCognitive reserveWorking memory capacityLong-term memoryIntellectual enrichmentIntelligence
Type
Brief Communication
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 20 , Issue 8 , September 2014 , pp. 868 - 872
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2014 

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