Article

Prospective memory (PM) includes the encoding and maintenance of an intention,
and the retrieval and execution of this intention at the proper moment in the
future. The present study expands upon previous behavioral, electrophysiological,
and functional work by examining the association between grey matter volume and
PM. Estimates of grey matter volume in theoretically relevant regions of interest
(prefrontal, parietal, and medial temporal) were obtained in conjunction with
performance on two PM tasks in a sample of 39 cognitively normal and very mildly
demented older adults. The first PM task, termed focal in the literature, is
supported by spontaneous retrieval of the PM intention whereas the second, termed
non-focal, relies on strategic monitoring processes for successful intention
retrieval. A positive relationship was observed between medial temporal volume
and accuracy on the focal PM task. An examination of medial temporal lobe
subregions revealed that this relationship was strongest for the hippocampus,
which is considered to support spontaneous memory retrieval. There were no
significant structure-behavior associations for the non-focal PM task. These
novel results confirm a relationship between behavior and underlying brain
structure proposed by the multiprocess theory of PM, and extend findings on
cognitive correlates of medial temporal lobe integrity.
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Langue : ANGLAIS