Recognition of familiar and unfamiliar melodies in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

Recognition of familiar and unfamiliar melodies in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

We tested normal young and elderly adults and elderly Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients on recognition memory for tunes. In Experiment 1, AD patients and age-matched controls received a study list and an old/new recognition test of highly familiar, traditional tunes, followed by a study list an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory & cognition Vol. 23; no. 5; pp. 531 - 546
Main Authors: Barlett, J C, Halpern, A R, Dowling, W J
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Psychonomic Society 01-09-1995
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis
Alzheimer Disease - psychology
Alzheimer's disease
Attention
Child
Communication disorders
Experiments
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Middle Aged
Music
Older people
Reference Values
Retention (Psychology)
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Summary:We tested normal young and elderly adults and elderly Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients on recognition memory for tunes. In Experiment 1, AD patients and age-matched controls received a study list and an old/new recognition test of highly familiar, traditional tunes, followed by a study list and test of novel tunes. The controls performed better than did the AD patients. The controls showed the "mirror effect" of increased hits and reduced false alarms for traditional versus novel tunes, whereas the patients false-alarmed as often to traditional tunes as to novel tunes. Experiment 2 compared young adults and healthy elderly persons using a similar design. Performance was lower in the elderly group, but both younger and older subjects showed the mirror effect. Experiment 3 produced confusion between preexperimental familiarity and intraexperimental familiarity by mixing traditional and novel tunes in the study lists and tests. Here, the subjects in both age groups resembled the patients of Experiment 1 in failing to show the mirror effect. Older subjects again performed more poorly, and they differed qualitatively from younger subjects in setting stricter criteria for more nameable tunes. Distinguishing different sources of global familiarity is a factor in tune recognition, and the data suggest that this type of source monitoring is impaired in AD and involves different strategies in younger and older adults.
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ISSN:0090-502X
1532-5946
DOI:10.3758/BF03197255