Affiliations: [a]
Dementia Care and Research Center, Peking University Institute of Mental Health (Sixth Hospital), Beijing, China
| [b]
National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University), NHC Key Laboratory for Mental Health, Beijing, China
| [c]
Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| [d]
Department of Radiology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Dr. Tao Li, Dementia Care and Research Center, Peking University Institute of Mental Health (Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China. E-mail: litao1027@sina.com and Prof. Huali Wang, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University), NHC Key Laboratory for Mental Health, Beijing 100191, China. E-mail: huali_wang@bjmu.edu.cn.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: Background:Whether encoding or retrieval failure contributes to memory binding deficit in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) has not been elucidated. Also, the potential brain structural substrates of memory binding remained undiscovered. Objective:To investigate the characteristics and brain atrophy pattern of encoding and retrieval performance during memory binding in aMCI. Methods:Forty-three individuals with aMCI and 37 cognitively normal controls were recruited. The Memory Binding Test (MBT) was used to measure memory binding performance. The immediate and delayed memory binding indices were computed by using the free and cued paired recall scores. Partial correlation analysis was performed to map the relationship between regional gray matter volume and memory binding performance. Results:The memory binding performance in the learning and retrieval phases was worse in the aMCI group than in the control group (F = 22.33 to 52.16, all p < 0.001). The immediate and delayed memory binding index in the aMCI group was lower than that in the control group (p < 0.05). The gray matter volume of the left inferior temporal gyrus was positively correlated with memory binding test scores (r = 0.49 to 0.61, p < 0.05) as well as the immediate (r = 0.39, p < 0.05) and delayed memory binding index (r = 0.42, p < 0.05) in the aMCI group. Conclusion:aMCI may be primarily characterized by a deficit in encoding phase during the controlled learning process. Volumetric losses in the left inferior temporal gyrus may contribute to encoding failure.
