Tag Archives: Serial Position Effect

Serial Position Effect and MCI compared to AD.

Serial Position Effect and Mild Cognitive Impairment

            There are many concepts and tools that researchers use to show the latency and depletion of memory for identifying Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The serial position effect is one of many and how it is scored was researched to come up with a better retention weighted score to “improve the discrimination of MCI and AD groups”, according to the authors of the article, Serial Position Effects in Mild Cognitive Impairment (2011).

            To begin, let us describe what the serial position effect is and what its components are. Like we learned in our lesson readings and textbook written by B.E Goldstein, the serial position curve shows us that memory recalling a list of words is better at the beginning and end of the list than the middle of the list due to two factors (2011). The primacy effect is the memory of items and the beginning of the list, and the recency effect is the memory of the items at the end of the list. The primacy effect is related to the longer rehearsal time for words earlier on in the list and the ability to place them into long term memory and retrieve later when asked to recall. The recency effect shows the ability to store recently presented items into short term memory for recall. This is a great way to differentiate and compare people with MCI and AD due to damage to different parts of the brain and also between the different stages of AD.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Mild Cognitive Impairment is defined as, “the intermediate stage between expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more serious decline of dementia (2014). MCI can involve problems with memory, thinking, language, and judgment that are greater than the normal age-related changes. MCI can increase the risk of individuals developing dementia caused by progression with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that leads to memory loss and other mental and neurological functions. It is also the most common cause for dementia which can lead to a steadier decline in memory and mental function causing disruption in the day to day lives of people suffering from dementia. A group of individuals did a study to help show the similarities in the serial position effect between MCI patients and people with AD. The findings were interesting…

According to the group of researchers, they found that individuals with MCI, similar to people with Alzheimer’s have a “diminished primacy effect in recalling words from a list.” This is due to the inability to consolidate new information into long term memory, leaving their recall blank of information at the beginning of the list empty which is a very big characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. They were able to compare the data between the MCI and AD control groups to find that using retention weighted scoring of the word lists was able to differentiate the data discrimination between the two groups. This is “more indicative of the more severe episodic memory impairment in those with Alzheimer’s than those with MCI” (2011).

            There are many more findings and studies that we can use to compare these two similar diseases and how they can feed off of each other but it is important to correctly diagnose to better treat as there are many different stages in the development of both MCI and AD.

 

References:

Goldstein, B. E. (2011) Cognitive psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday

Experience. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Cenage.

Howieson, D. B., Mattek, N., Seeyle, A. M., Dodge, H. H., Wasserman, D., Zitzelberger, T., &

Jeffrey, K.(2011). Serial position effects in mild cognitive impairment. Journal of

Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(3), 292-299.

doi:10.1080/13803395.2010.516742

Mayo Clinic Staff (2014). Definition; Mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mild-cognitive-

impairment/basics/definition/CON-20026392