Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-fx4k7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-22T19:38:10.294Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measuring Episodic Memory Across the Lifespan: NIH Toolbox Picture Sequence Memory Test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Sureyya S. Dikmen ,
Patricia J. Bauer ,
Sandra Weintraub ,
Dan Mungas ,
Jerry Slotkin ,
Jennifer L. Beaumont ,
Richard Gershon ,
Nancy R. Temkin  and
Robert K. Heaton
Sureyya S. Dikmen*
Affiliation:
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Patricia J. Bauer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Sandra Weintraub
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
Dan Mungas
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, California
Jerry Slotkin
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
Jennifer L. Beaumont
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
Richard Gershon
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
Nancy R. Temkin
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurological Surgery and Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Robert K. Heaton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, California
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Sureyya S. Dikmen, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, 325 Ninth Avenue, Box 359612, Seattle, WA 98104. E-mail: dikmen@uw.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Episodic memory is one of the most important cognitive domains that involves acquiring, storing and recalling new information. In this article, we describe a new measure developed for the NIH Toolbox, called the Picture Sequence Memory Test (PSMT) that is the first to examine episodic memory across the age range from 3 to 85. We describe the development of the measure and present validation data for ages 20 to 85. The PSMT involves presentation of sequences of pictured objects and activities in a fixed order on a computer screen and simultaneously verbally described, that the participant must remember and then reproduce over three learning trials. The results indicate good test–retest reliability and construct validity. Performance is strongly related to well-established “gold standard” measures of episodic memory and, as expected, much less well correlated with those of a measure of vocabulary. It shows clear decline with aging in parallel with a gold standard summary measure and relates to several other demographic factors and to self-reported general health status. The PSMT appears to be a reliable and valid test of episodic memory for adults, a finding similar to those found for the same measure with children. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–9)

Keywords

Episodic memoryLearningTest developmentNIH toolboxValidationCognition

Information

Type
Special Series
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 20 , Issue 6 , July 2014 , pp. 611 - 619
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adlam, A.L., Vargha-Khadem, F., Mishkin, M., & de Haan, M. (2005). Deferred imitation of action sequences in developmental amnesia. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 240–248.Google Scholar
Bauer, P.J. (2005). New developments in the study of infant memory. In D.M. Teti (Ed.), Blackwell handbook of research methods in developmental science (pp. 467–488). Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, P.J. (2006). Constructing a past in infancy: A neuro-developmental account. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 175–181.Google Scholar
Bauer, P.J. (2007). Remembering the times of our lives: Memory in infancy and beyond. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bauer, P.J., Dikmen, S., Heaton, R., Mungas, D., Slotkin, J., & Beaumont, J.L. (2013). III. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): Measuring episodic memory. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 78, 34–48.Google Scholar
Bauer, P.J., & Mandler, J.M. (1989). One thing follows another: Effects of temporal structure in one- to two-year-olds’ recall of events. Developmental Psychology, 25, 197–206.Google Scholar
Bauer, P.J., & Shore, C.M. (1987). Making a memorable event: Effects of familiarity and organization on young children’s recall of action sequences. Cognitive Development, 2, 327–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, P.J., Wenner, J.A., Dropik, P.L., & Wewerka, S.S. (2000). Parameters of remembering and forgetting in the transition from infancy to early childhood. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 65, 1–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benedict, R. (1997). Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.Google Scholar
Delis, D.C., Kramer, J.H., Freeland, J., & Kaplan, E. (1988). Integrating clinical assessment with cognitive neuroscience: Construct validation of the California Verbal Learning Test. J Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(1), 123–130.Google Scholar
Dickerson, B.C., & Eichenbaum, H. (2010). The episodic memory system: neurocircuitry and disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 86–104.Google Scholar
Dunn, D.M., & Dunn, L.M. (2007). PPVT-4: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (4th ed.). Minneapolis, MN: Pearson.Google Scholar
Grady, C.L. (2005). Functional connectivity during memory tasks in healthy aging and dementia. In R. Cabeza, L. Nyberg, & D. Park (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging (pp. 286–308). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Heaton, R.K., Taylor, M.J., & Manly, J. (2003). Demographic effects and use of demographically corrected norms with the WAIS-III and WMS-III. In D. Tulsky, D. Saklofske, R.K. Heaton, G. Chelune, R. Ivnik, R.A. Bornstein, M. Ledbetter (Eds.), Clinical interpretation of the WAIS-III and WMS-III (pp. 183–210). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jack, C.R., Petersen, R.C., Xu, Y., O’Brien, P.S., Smith, G.E., Ivnik, R.J., Kokmen, E. (2000). Rates of hippocampal atrophy correlates with change in clinical status in aging and AD. Neurology, 55, 484–489.Google Scholar
Lezak, M.D. (1983). Neuropsychological Assessment (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McDonough, L., Mandler, J.M., McKee, R.D., & Squire, L.R. (1995). The deferred imitation task as a nonverbal measure of declarative memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 92, 7580–7584.Google Scholar
McGaugh, J.L. (2000). Memory - A century of consolidation. Science, 287, 248–251.Google Scholar
Mungas, D., Heaton, R.K., Tulsky, D., Zelazo, P., Slotkin, J., Blitz, D., Gershon, R. (2014). Factor structure, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the NIH toolbox cognitive health battery (NIHTB-CHB) in adults. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (In this issue). doi:10.1017/S1355617714000307.Google Scholar
Park, D.C., & Gutchess, A.H. (2005). Long-term memory and aging: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. In R. Cabeza, L. Nyberg & D. Park (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging (pp. 218–245). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Petrides, M. (1995). Impairments on nonspatial self-ordered and externally ordered working memory tasks after lesions of the mid-dorsal part of the lateral frontal cortex in monkeys. The Journal of Neuroscience, 15, 359–375.Google Scholar
Raz, N. (2005). The aging brain observed in vivo: Differential changes and their modifiers. In R. Cabeza, L. Nyberg & D. Park (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging (pp. 19–57). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Riggins, T., Cheatham, C., Stark, E., & Bauer, P.J. (2013). Elicited imitation performance at 20 months predicts memory abilities in school age children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 14, 593–606.Google Scholar
Shimamura, A.P., Janowsky, J.S., & Squire, L.R. (1990). Memory for the temporal order of events in patients with frontal lobe lesions and amnesic patients. Neuropsychologia, 28, 803–813.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Squire, L.R. (2004). Memory systems of the brain: A brief history and current perspective. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 82, 171–177.Google Scholar
Strauss, E., Sherman, E.M.S., & Spreen, O. (2006). A compendium of neuropsychological tests: Administration, norms, and commentary. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (2009). WMS-IV Technical and Interpretative Manual. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.Google Scholar
Weintraub, S., Dikmen, S.S., Heaton, R.K., Tulsky, D.S., Zelazo, P.D., Slotkin, J., Gershon, R. (2014). The cognition battery of the NIH toolbox for assessment of neurological and behavioral function: Validation in an adult sample. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (In this issue). doi:10.1017/S1355617714000307.Google Scholar