Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to examine the efficacy of a novel memory enhancement procedure for individuals with dementia named "memory priming." Three elderly individuals with a diagnosis of dementia participated in the study. Baseline procedures involved identifying low-probability items that served as targets for the intervention and moderate-probability questions that served as control items. A variation of a reversal design was implemented to compare three different conditions: the memory priming intervention and two control conditions that involved reading aloud and a watching a video. The results of the study indicated that individuals with moderate-to-severe memory impairment do have the ability to increase their recall of personally-relevant information, and that an activity requiring cognitive effort (i.e.,reading aloud and engaging in a preferred conversation) may produce the most benefit compared to a more passive and less cognitively stimulating activity (i.e., watching a video).
Advisor
Jeffrey Buchanan
Committee Member
Daniel Houlihan
Committee Member
Don Ebel
Date of Degree
2012
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Deselms, J. L. (2012). Memory priming in elderly individuals diagnosed with dementia. [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/24/
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