AUTHOR=Pflueger Marlon O. , Mager Ralph , Graf Marc , Stieglitz Rolf-Dieter 

TITLE=Encoding of everyday objects in older adults: Episodic memory assessment in virtual reality

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1100057

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2023.1100057

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=Age-related decline in episodic memory performance in otherwise healthy older adults is indis-putably evident. Yet, it has been shown that under certain conditions episodic memory perfor-mance in healthy older adults’ barely deviates from those seen in young adults. Here we report on the quality of object encoding in an ecologically valid, virtual-reality based memory assess-ment in a sample of healthy older and younger adults with comparable memory performance. We analyzed encoding by establishing both a serial and semantic clustering index and an object memory association network. As expected, semantic clustering was superior in older adults with-out need for additional allocation of executive resources whereas young adults tended more to rely on serial strategies. The association networks suggested a plethora of obvious but also less obvious memory organization principles, some of which indicated converging approaches be-tween the groups as suggested by a subgraph analysis and some of which indicated diverging approaches as suggested by the respective network interconnectivity. A higher interconnectivity was observed in the older adults' association networks. We interpreted this as a consequence of superior semantic memory organization (extent to which effective semantic strategies diverged within the group). In conclusion, these results might indicate a diminished need for compensatory cognitive effort in healthy older adults when encoding and recalling everyday objects under eco-logically valid conditions. Due to an enhanced and multimodal encoding model, superior crystal-lized abilities might be sufficient to counteract an age-related decline in various other and specif-ic cognitive domains. This approach might potentially elucidate age-related changes in memory performance in both healthy and pathological aging.