Memória contextual e estratégias de codificação em idosos com sintomas depressivos

• Ano de defesa: 2007
• Autor(a) principal: Balardin, Joana Bisol
• Orientador(a): Bromberg, Elke
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; Porto Alegre
• Palavras-chave em Português: GERONTOLOGIA; GERIATRIA; MEMÓRIA - IDOSOS; ENVELHECIMENTO
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/10923/3619

Contextual memory has been considered one aspect of cognitive functioning especially susceptible to the negative effects of aging on cognition. It has been verified that memory strategies could reduce memory deficits in healthy older adults. However, previous studies have not examined contextual memory in one prevalent population of older adults: those manifesting depressive symptoms. This study aim was to verify the effects of aging associated with mild depressive symptoms and the effects of encoding strategies on contextual memory. Twenty-two young and 22 older adults without depressive symptoms and 22 older adults with mild depressive symptoms, assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were evaluated. Participants cortisol circadian profile was assessed in order to characterize experimental groups. The elderly with depressive symptoms showed high cortisol levels at 10pm compared to other groups. The three groups were matched on a measure of world knowledge and on years of education. During the memory task, participants watched a series of photographs of objects placed in one of two locations: a living room or an office. Half of the subjects in each group received a encoding strategy to bind object and context and the other half received an unspecific strategy. After few minutes, subjects performed item and context recognition memory tests. Memory results indicated that mild depressive symptoms group did not aggravate the age-related contextual memory pattern but interfered in the magnitude of the memory enhancement provided by specific encoding instructions. These findings indicate that older adults with depressive symptoms encode contextual attributes to improving memory but suggest the necessity of further investigation, since they presented a smaller magnitude of this enhancement effect compared to the elderly controls.