Elevated Activity of the Sympathetic Nervous System Is Related to Diminished Practice Effects in Memory: A Pilot Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Reductions in memory practice effects have gained interest as risk factor for future cognitive decline. Practice effects vary with age and can be moderated by factors such as individual variability in arousal or stress experience acting as an additional cognitive load.

Objective

In the current pilot study, we examined whether sympathetic nervous system activation moderates the relationship between age and practice effects.

Methods

Thirty cognitively healthy individuals aged 40-70 years performed a mnemonic discrimination task twice. Salivary alpha amylase (sAA) samples were obtained at different time points as a proxy of sympathetic activity. Spearman correlations examined the relation between practice effects and sAA. Subsequently, age by sAA interactions

SUBMITTER: Pagen LHG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8150645 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature