Metacognitive monitoring and dementia: how intrinsic and extrinsic cues influence judgments of learning in people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease

Neuropsychology. 2013 Jul;27(4):452-63. doi: 10.1037/a0033050.

Abstract

Objective: The present research compared metamemorial monitoring processes among younger adults, nondemented older adults, and older adults diagnosed with early stage Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (DAT).

Method: In three experiments we examined the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic cues on Judgment of Learning (JOL) accuracy. Changes in association strength between cue-target word pairs served as the intrinsic manipulation in Experiments 1 and 2. Changes in encoding orientation served as the extrinsic manipulation in Experiment 3.

Results: Across all experiments we found that young adults, nondemented older adults, and individuals in the early stages of DAT effectively used intrinsic and extrinsic factors to guide JOL predictions.

Conclusions: We conclude that while certain aspects of metacognition may be impaired in both the normal and demented older populations, these groups remain able to use theory-based processing, or general knowledge about how memory works, to make metamemory monitoring predictions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Alzheimer Disease / complications*
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Association Learning
  • Cognition Disorders / diagnosis
  • Cognition Disorders / etiology*
  • Cues*
  • Dementia / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Judgment / physiology*
  • Learning Disabilities / diagnosis
  • Learning Disabilities / etiology*
  • Male
  • Mental Recall / physiology*
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Young Adult