Age Effect on Components of Episodic Memory and Feature Binding: A Virtual Reality Study

• Published in: Neuropsychology 2010-05, Vol.24 (3), p.379-390
• Main Authors: Plancher, Gaën, Gyselinck, Valerie, Nicolas, Serge, Piolino, Pascale
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult. Elderly; Aged; Aging; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition - physiology; Computer Graphics; Computer Simulation; Developmental psychology; Education; Episodic Memory; Executive Function - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Human Information Storage; Humans; Learning - physiology; Learning. Memory; Male; Memory; Memory Disorders - psychology; Mental Recall - physiology; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Receptor Binding; Virtual Reality; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0894-4105; 1931-1559
• DOI: 10.1037/a0018680

Objective: The aims were (1) to explore the effects of normal aging on the main aspects of episodic memory-what, where, and when,-and on feature binding in a virtual environment; (2) to explore the influence of the mode of learning, intentional versus incidental; and (3) to benchmark virtual environment findings collected with older adults against data recorded in classical neuropsychological tests. Method: We tested a population of 82 young adults and 78 older adults without dementia (they participated in a short battery of neuropsychological tests). All the participants drove a car in an urban virtual environment composing of 9 turns and specific areas. Half of the participants were told to drive through the virtual town; the other half were asked to drive and to memorize the environment (itinerary, elements, etc.). All aspects of episodic memory were then assessed (what, where, when, and binding). Results: The older participants had less recollection of the spatiotemporal context of events than the younger with intentional encoding ( p < .001), but similar recollection with incidental encoding (except for verbal spatial aspect). The younger participants showed better binding than older ones regardless of the type of encoding ( p < .001). For the older participants the virtual test was sensitive to mnesic complaints as well as general cognitive changes ( p < .05 to p < .01). Conclusion: We view these results as an indication that virtual environments could provide helpful standard tools for assessing age effects on the main aspects of episodic memory.