Abstract
Introduction: List learning tasks are powerful clinical tools for studying memory, yet have been relatively underutilized within the functional imaging literature. This limits understanding of regions such as the Papez circuit that support memory performance in healthy, nondemented adults. Method: The current study characterized list learning performance in 40 adults who completed a semantic list learning task (SLLT) with a Brown-Peterson manipulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Cued recall with semantic cues and recognition memory were assessed after imaging. Internal reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity were evaluated. Results: Subjects averaged 38% accuracy in recall (62% for recognition), with primacy but no recency effects observed. Validity and reliability were demonstrated by showing that the SLLT was correlated with the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), but not with executive functioning tests, and by high intraclass correlation coefficient across lists for recall (.91). fMRI measurements during encoding (vs. silent rehearsal) revealed significant activation in bilateral hippocampus, parahippocampus, and bilateral anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Post hoc analyses showed increased activation in anterior and middle hippocampus, subgenual cingulate, and mammillary bodies specific to encoding. In addition, increasing age was positively associated with increased activation in a diffuse network, particularly frontal cortex and specific Papez regions for correctly recalled words. Gender differences were specific to left inferior and superior frontal cortex. Conclusions: This is a clinically relevant list learning task that can be used in studies of groups for which the Papez circuit is damaged or disrupted, in mixed or crossover studies at imaging and clinical sites.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 816-833 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 14 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author. This work was supported by a K23 Award [grant number MH074459, S.A.L.); a General Clinical Research Center grant (grant number MO1 RR00042, S.A.L. and M.N.S.); a National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator award (S.A.L.); Rachel Upjohn Clinical Scholars Awards (S.A.L. and S.L.W.); a Psychiatry Research Committee grant (S.A.L.); and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) pilot scans (S.A.L. and S.L.W.) from the University of Michigan fMRI Laboratory. A subset of these individuals was used in the senior honors thesis of the lead author (M.P.S.), which is available online through http:// deepblue.lib.umich.edu Address correspondence to: Scott A. Langenecker, 1601 W Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA (E-mail: slangen@uic.edu).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Taylor & Francis.
Keywords
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Hippocampus
- Imaging
- List learning
- Memory
- Papez circuit