Emotion and Episodic Memories in Parkinson’s disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Retrieval of Episodic Memories in Parkinson ’s disease: The Role of Emotion and Subjective Memory States.
IRAS ID
153221
Contact name
Matilda Ohlsson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Humber NHS foundation trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Research summary
Older adults have been found to show better memory for positive than negative material("positivity bias"; Charles, Mather & Carstensen 2003).One theory is that that the perception of time as more limited in later life may lead older adults to be more motivated to remember positive information as this may help to regulate emotion and improve well-being (Mather & Carstensen, 2005).
This study will investigate what happens to this 'positivity bias' in older adults with Parkinson's disease. Research has showed that individuals with Parkinson's disease have impairments in both memory and emotional processing. However, little is understood about the link between the two.
The research will compare the ability of healthy adults and adults with Parkinson's disease (over 60 years of age) to recognise positive, negative and neutral images. Moreover, the study will investigate if individuals with Parkinson's disease are less able than healthy older adults to remember emotional material with great detail.
Prior to the experimental part of the study participants will be screened for cognitive impairments and heightened levels of anxiety and depression.
In the experimental phase, the two groups will be presented with positive, negative and neutral images. Following a 20 minute interval they will then be asked try to identify the images they have previously seen amongst a set of new images. If participants state that they have previously seen an image they will asked to state the level of detail that accompanies their recognition. This will be done using the remember and knowing paradigm (Tulving, 1985). In this paradigm, images recognised via "remembering" are accompanied by a strong detailed memory for the moment an images was previously seen. In contrast, for images recognised via "knowing" such details are not retrieved. The screening phase will last for 30 minutes and the experimental task around 65-75 minutes.REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
14/NI/1006
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion