title: Mnemonic strategy training improves memory for object location associations in both healthy elderly and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, single-blind study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy of mnemonic strategy training versus a matched-exposure control condition and to examine the relationship between training-related gains, neuropsychological abilities, and medial temporal lobe volumetrics in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and age-matched healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three of 45 screened healthy controls and 29 of 42 screened patients with aMCI were randomized to mnemonic strategy or matched-exposure groups. Groups were run in parallel, with participants blind to the other intervention. All participants completed five sessions within 2 weeks. Memory testing for object-location associations (OLAs) was performed during sessions one and five and at a 1-month follow-up. During Sessions 2-4, participants received either mnemonic strategy training or a matched number of exposures with corrective feedback for a total of 45 OLAs. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed in most participants, and medial temporal lobe volumetrics were acquired.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one healthy controls and 28 patients with aMCI were included in data analysis. Mnemonic strategy training was significantly more beneficial than matched exposure immediately after training, p = .006, partial η2 = .16, and at 1 month, p < .001, partial η2 = .35, regardless of diagnostic group (healthy group or aMCI group). Although patients with aMCI demonstrated gains comparable to the healthy control groups, their overall performance generally remained reduced. Mnemonic strategy-related improvement was correlated positively with baseline memory and executive functioning and negatively with inferior lateral ventricle volume in patients with aMCI; no significant relationships were evident in matched-exposure patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mnemonic strategies effectively improve memory for specific content for at least 1 month in patients with aMCI.
authors.affiliation: Atlanta VAMC, Decatur, GA, USA. bhampst@emory.edu
authors.forename: Benjamin M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hampstead
authors.forename: Krish
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sathian
authors.forename: Pamela A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Akshay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amaraneni
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Delaune
authors.forename: Anthony Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Stringer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003463:Cues; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012660:Semantics; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology