Memory training programs in memory complainers: Efficacy on objective and subjective memory functioning

Summary esent study aims to assess the efficacy of memory training programs (MTP) on objective and subjective memory measures in non-demented, non-depressed community-dwelling elderly individuals with spontaneous memory complaints. Fifty-nine subjects were subdivided into two subgroups, one (n = 39) with only subjectively experienced memory decline (subjective memory complainers = SMC), the other (n = 20) fulfilling aging-associated cognitive decline criteria (AACD). At start, AACD elderly individuals were significantly older in age, cognitively less efficient (revealed by MMSE) and more impaired on both objective and subjective memory measures compared to SMC. After MTP, both groups significantly improved objective memory functioning, but this improvement was greater in AACD, in particular in short-term memory processing and attentive abilities, in terms both of gains (delta score percentages) and of frequency of clinically relevant responsiveness (i.e., a delta score equal or greater than one standard deviation of the mean value on the overall memory index of the Randt memory test, derived form an age-matched memory unimpaired sample). In addition, the two subgroups also obtained better scores on metamemory questions tapping age-related memory decline, but in the AACD group alone enhancement in objective memory functioning was accompanied by improved subjective appraisals (metamemory) of current memory ability in everyday situations. We may conclude that MTPs are beneficial in elderly memory complainers, although they act differently according to whether or not complaints are associated with actual memory deficits.