Background: The present study examines whether the interaction between emotion and the enactment effect (body involvement) improves memory in people with Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: Two experiments with drawings of actions were conducted, in which two types of encoding were used: motor and verbal. In experiment 1, with 13 AD patients and 13 older healthy adults, the encoding was incidental. In experiment 2, with 17 mild AD patients and 21 older healthy adults, it was intentional. Results: In experiment 1, no effect of enactment or emotion was observed in the AD patients. In experiment 2, effects of enactment and emotion (better recall for negative actions) were observed in the AD patients. This pattern of results was also observed in the elderly control adults in both experiments. Conclusion: These results confirm effects observed in normal ageing and indicate a more subtle effect on AD.

1.
Hainselin M, Quinette P, Eustache F: Qu’est-ce que la mémoire de l’action ? Revue théorique et perspectives. Rev Neuropsychol 2013; 5: 192–199.
2.
Engelkamp J, Zimmer HD: Motor programme information as a separable memory unit. Psychol Res 1984; 46: 283–299.
3.
Nyberg L, Nilsson LG, Bäckman L: Recall of actions, sentences, and nouns: Influences of adult age and passage of time. Acta Psychol 1992; 79: 245–254.
4.
Knopf M, Neidhardt E: Aging and memory for action events: the role of familiarity. Dev Psychol 1989; 25: 780–786.
5.
Engelkamp J, Zimmer HD: Sensory factors in memory for subject-performed tasks. Acta Psychol 1997; 96: 43–60.
6.
Earles JL, Kersten AW, Berlin Mas B, Miccio DM: Aging and memory for self-performed tasks: effects of task difficulty and time pressure. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2004; 59:P285–P293.
7.
Mangels JA, Heinberg A: Improved episodic integration through enactment: implications for aging. J Gen Psychol 2006; 133: 37–65.
8.
Feyereisen P: Enactment effects and integration processes in younger and older adults’ memory for actions. Memory 2009; 17: 374–385.
9.
Dick MB, Kean ML, Sands D: Memory for action events in Alzheimer-type dementia: further evidence of an encoding failure. Brain Cogn 1989; 9: 71–87.
10.
Mack W, Eberle C, Frölich L, Knopf M: Memory for performed actions in dementia of Alzheimer type: further evidence for a global semantic memory deficit. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 2005; 20: 381–387.
11.
Charlesworth LA, Allen RJ, Morson S, Burn WK, Souchay C: Working memory and the enactment effect in early Alzheimer’s disease. ISRN Neurol 2014; 2014: 694761.
12.
Karlsson T, Bäckman L, Herlitz A, Nilsson LG, Winblad B, Österlind PO: Memory improvement at different stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia 1989; 27: 737–742.
13.
Lekeu F, Van der Linden M, Moonen G, Salmon E: Exploring the effect of action familiarity on SPTs recall performance in Alzheimer’s disease. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2002; 24: 1057–1069.
14.
Masumoto K, Takai T, Tsuneto S, Kashiwagi T: Influence of motoric encoding on forgetting function of memory for action sentences in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Percept Mot Skills 2004; 98: 299–306.
15.
von Essen JD: Enactment enhances integration between verb and noun, but not relational processing, in episodic memory. Scand J Psychol 2005; 46: 315–321.
16.
Engelkamp J, Zimmer HD: The Human Memory: A Multi-Modal Approach. Toronto, Hogrefe & Huber, 1994.
17.
Engelkamp J, Dehn DM: Item and order information in subject-performed tasks and experimenter-performed tasks. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2000; 26: 671–682.
18.
Engelkamp J, Krumnacker H: Imaginale und motorische Prozesse beim Behalten verbalen Materials [Image and motor processes in the retention of verbal materials]. Z Exp Psychol 1980; 27: 511–533.
19.
Golly-Häring C, Engelkamp J: Categorical-relational and order-relational information in memory for subject-performed and experimenter-performed actions. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2003; 29: 965–975.
20.
Hornstein SL, Mulligan NW: Memory for actions: enactment and source memory. Psychon Bull Rev 2004; 11: 367–372.
21.
Mulligan NW, Hornstein SL: Memory for actions: self-performed tasks and the reenactment effect. Mem Cognit 2003; 31: 412–421.
22.
Manzi A, Nigro G: Long-term memory for performed and observed actions: retrieval awareness and source monitoring. Memory 2008; 16: 595–603.
23.
Denis M, Engelkamp J, Mohr G: Memory of imagined actions: imagining oneself or another person. Psychol Res 1991; 53: 246–250.
24.
Damasio AR: Time-locked multiregional retroactivation: a systems-level proposal for the neural substrates of recall and recognition. Cognition 1989; 33: 25–62.
25.
Nilsson LG, Nyberg L, Klingberg T, Åberg C, Persson J, Roland PE: Activity in motor areas while remembering action events. Neuroreport 2000; 11: 2199–2201.
26.
Nyberg L, Petersson KM, Nilsson LG, Sandblom J, Åberg C, Ingvar M: Reactivation of motor brain areas during explicit memory for actions. Neuroimage 2001; 14: 521–528.
27.
Helstrup T: In search of a motor element in memory for enacted events. Eur J Cogn Psychol 2005; 17: 389–403.
28.
Kormi-Nouri R, Nilsson LG: The motor component is not crucial! In Zimmer HD, Cohen R, Guynn MJ, Engelkamp J, Kormi-Nouri R, Foley MA (eds): Memory for Action: A Distinct Form of Episodic Memory? New York, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp 97–111.
29.
Canli T, Zhao Z, Brewer J, Gabrieli JD, Cahill L: Event-related activation in the human amygdala associates with later memory for individual emotional experience. J Neurosci 2000; 20:RC99.
30.
McGaugh JL: Memory – a century of consolidation. Science 2000; 287: 248–251.
31.
Leigland LA, Schulz LE, Janowsky JS: Age related changes in emotional memory. Neurobiol Aging 2004; 25: 1117–1124.
32.
Landré L, Sava AA, Krainik A, Lamalle L, Krolak-Salmon P, Chainay H: Effects of emotionally-rated material on visual memory in Alzheimer’s disease in relation to medial temporal atrophy. J Alzheimers Dis 2013; 36: 535–544.
33.
Chainay H, Sava AA, Michael GA, Landré L, Versace R, Krolak-Salmon P: Impaired emotional memory enhancement on recognition of pictorial stimuli in Alzheimer’s disease: no influence of the nature of encoding. Cortex 2014; 50: 32–44.
34.
Sava AA, Paquet C, Krolak-Salmon P, Dumurgier J, Hugon J, Chainay H: Emotional memory enhancement in respect of positive visual stimuli in Alzheimer’s disease emerges after rich and deep encoding. Cortex 2015; 65: 89–101.
35.
Kensinger EA: Age differences in memory for arousing and nonarousing emotional words. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2008; 63:P13–P18.
36.
Mather M, Knight M: Goal-directed memory: the role of cognitive control in older adults’ emotional memory. Psychol Aging 2005; 20: 554–570.
37.
Kensinger EA, Anderson A, Growdon JH, Corkin S: Effects of Alzheimer disease on memory for verbal emotional information. Neuropsychologia 2004; 42: 791–800.
38.
Okada A, Matsuo J: Emotional memory in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a report of two cases. Case Rep Psychiatry 2012; 2012: 313906.
39.
Ikeda M, Mori E, Hirono N, Imamura T, Shimomura T, Ikejiri Y, Yamashita H: Amnestic people with Alzheimer’s who remembered the Kobe earthquake. Br J Psychiatry 1998; 172: 425–428.
40.
Cacioppo JT, Priester JR, Berntson GG: Rudimentary determinants of attitudes. II. Arm flexion and extension have differential effects on attitudes. J Pers Soc Psychol 1993; 65: 5–17.
41.
Casasanto D, Dijkstra K: Motor action and emotional memory. Cognition 2010; 115: 179–185.
42.
Förster J, Stepper S: Compatibility between approach/avoidance stimulation and valenced information determines residual attention during the process of encoding. Eur J Soc Psychol 2000; 30: 853–871.
43.
Förster J, Strack F: The influence of overt head movements on memory for valenced words: a case of conceptual-motor compatibility. J Pers Soc Psychol 1996; 71: 421−430.
44.
Strack F, Martin LL, Stepper S: Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: a nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. J Pers Soc Psychol 1988; 54: 768–777.
45.
McKhann GM, Knopman DS, Chertkow H, Hyman BT, Jack CR Jr, Kawas CH, et al: The diagnosis of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement 2011; 7: 263–269.
46.
Folstein MF, Robins LN, Helzer JE: The Mini-Mental State Examination. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983; 40: 812.
47.
Dubois B, Touchon J, Portet F, Ousset PJ, Vellas B, Michel B: “Les 5 mots,” épreuve simple et sensible pour le diagnostic de la maladie d’Alzheimer. Presse Med 2002; 31: 1696–1699.
48.
Godefroy O, Jeannerod M, Allain P, Le Gall D: Lobe frontal, fonctions exécutives et controle cognitif. Rev Neurol 2008; 164(suppl 3):S119–S127.
49.
Dubois B, Slachevsky A, Litvan I, Pillon B: The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside. Neurology 2000; 55: 1621–1626.
50.
Mahieux-Laurent F, Fabre C, Galbrun E, Dubrulle A, Moroni C: Validation d’une batterie brève d’évaluation des praxies gestuelles pour consultation Mémoire. Évaluation chez 419 témoins, 127 patients atteints de troubles cognitifs légers et 320 patients atteints d’une démence. Rev Neurol 2009; 165: 560–567.
51.
Zigmond AS, Snaith RP: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1983; 67: 361–370.
52.
Warrington EK, James M: The Visual Object and Space Perception Battery (VOSP). Bury St Edmunds, Thames Valley Company, 1991.
53.
Cohen J, MacWhinney B, Flatt M, Provost J: PsyScope: an interactive graphic system for designing and controlling experiments in the psychology laboratory using Macintosh computers. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 1993; 25: 257–271.
54.
MacWhinney B, Cohen J, Provost J: The PsyScope experiment-building system. Spat Vis 1997; 11: 99–101.
55.
Conover WJ, Iman RL: Rank transformations as a bridge between parametric and nonparametric statistics. Am Stat 1981; 35: 124–129.
56.
Kormi-Nouri R: The nature of memory for action events: an episodic integration view. Eur J Cogn Psychol 1995; 7: 337–363.
57.
Kouchaki M, Gino F: Memories of unethical actions become obfuscated over time. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2016; 113: 6166–6171.
58.
Talmi D, McGarry LM: Accounting for immediate emotional memory enhancement. J Mem Lang 2012; 66: 93–108.
59.
Salmon E, Adam S, Lekeu F, Marique P, Olivier C, Quittre A, Wojtasik V: Principes d’adaptation cognitive dans les démences. Waterloo, Wolters Kluwer Belgium, 2006.
60.
Lipinska B, Bäckman L: Encoding-retrieval interactions in mild Alzheimer’s disease: the role of access to categorical information. Brain Cogn 1997; 34: 274–286.
61.
Hutton S, Sheppard L, Rusted JM, Ratner HH: Structuring the acquisition and retrieval environment to facilitate learning in individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer type. Memory 1996; 4: 113–130.
62.
Pratto F, John OP: Automatic vigilance: the attention-grabbing power of negative social information. J Pers Soc Psychol 1991; 61: 380–391.
63.
Humphrey K, Underwood G, Lambert T: Salience of the lambs: a test of the saliency map hypothesis with pictures of emotive objects. J Vis 2012; 12: 22.
64.
Santangelo V: Forced to remember: when memory is biased by salient information. Behav Brain Res 2015; 283: 1–10.
65.
Kensinger EA: Negative emotion enhances memory accuracy. Behavioral and neuroimaging evidence. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 2007; 16: 213–218.
66.
Souchay C, Moulin CJ, Isingrini M, Conway MA: Rehearsal strategy use in Alzheimer’s disease. Cogn Neuropsychol 2008; 25: 783–797.
67.
Li G, Wang L, Han Y: Directed forgetting of negative performed actions is difficult: a behavioural study. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2017; 70: 53–61.
Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
You do not currently have access to this content.