The benefits of errorless learning for people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

The aim of this study was to explore whether errorless learning leads to better outcomes than errorful learning in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to examine whether accuracy in error recognition relates to any observed benefit of errorless over errorful learning. Nineteen participants with a clinical diagnosis of amnestic MCI were recruited. A word-list learning task was used and learning was assessed by free recall, cued recall and recognition tasks.

Phenomena of awareness in dementia: heterogeneity and its implications.

Despite much research on the relationship between awareness and dementia little can be concluded concerning their relationship and the role of other factors. It is likely that studies capture different phenomena of awareness. This study aimed at identifying and delineating such variation by analysing data from three questionnaires obtained during the longitudinal study of awareness in 101 people with early-stage dementia.

Memory awareness profiles differentiate mild cognitive impairment from early-stage dementia: evidence from assessments of performance monitoring and evaluative judgement.

Background: Measures of memory awareness based on evaluative judgement and performance monitoring are often regarded as equivalent, but the Levels of Awareness Framework suggests they reflect different awareness phenomena. Examination of memory awareness among groups with differing degrees of impairment provides a test of this proposition.

Method: Ninety-nine people with dementia (PwD), 30 people with mild cognitive impairment (PwMCI), and their relatives completed isomorphic performance monitoring and evaluative judgement measures of memory awareness and were followed up at 12 and (PwD only) 20 months.

Meta-representational awareness in mild cognitive impairment: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Awareness in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been studied primarily from a quantitative perspective, which has yielded inconclusive results. A qualitative approach may provide a more in-depth profile of awareness of symptoms and changes among people living with MCI. Few qualitative studies have considered awareness in MCI; therefore, the focus here will be on the experience of living with MCI, and particularly on the psychological impact of living with memory difficulties and how these impact on daily life.

Dissociation between implicit and explicit manifestations of awareness in early stage dementia: evidence from the emotional Stroop effect for dementia-related words.

Objective: To determine whether people with dementia (PwD), and carers of PwD, show a processing bias to dementia-related words in an emotional Stroop task, and if so, whether the presence of such a bias is related to level of explicit awareness of the condition.

Method: Seventy-nine people with early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular or mixed dementia, and their carers, completed an emotional Stroop task. Time taken to colour-name dementia-related and neutral words was compared within and between groups.