Exploring cognitive effects of self reported mild stroke in older adults: selective but robust effects on story memory.
Relatively little systematic information is available regarding patterns of cognitive effects of mild stroke in older adults. We explored this problem with a series of two independent samples from the Victoria Longitudinal Study data archives. In Study 1, self-reported mild stroke and neurologically intact matched controls were (a) confirmed as similar on a set of neurocognitive speed, basic cognition, and awareness indicators, and (b) compared for differences on a set of episodic, semantic, and working memory tasks. The mild stroke group was selectively worse on the language intensive story memory task. This effect was partially attributable to a deficit in remembering the most thematic information. Study 2 closely replicated these procedures and results. In addition, Study 2 follow-up analyses, comparing provisional right-hemisphere damaged and left-hemisphere damaged (LHD) participants, revealed that the thematic story memory deficit for mild stroke participants could be due to the selective impairment of LHD participants.
Mansueti
Laura
L
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
de Frias
Cindy M
CM
Bub
Daniel
D
Dixon
Roger A
RA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001364:Awareness; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D032882:Comprehension; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012016:Reference Values; D012650:Self Disclosure; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning