Abstract

Previous research suggests that common modifiable health risk factors (e.g., depression, anxiety, metabolic illness, inflammation) may have an impact on memory. In the present study, we sought to investigate relationships between a number of these health risk factors and two components of recognition memory (recollection and familiarity). Data were analyzed for 96 healthy young adults between 17 and 25 years old. Recollection and familiarity were measured using an associative recognition procedure involving unitized and unrelated word pairs, and regression analyses were used to relate recognition memory performance to physical health (inflammation via plasma IL-6 levels, central obesity via waste-to-hip ratio, and heart rate variability) and mental health (depression via CESD-R, stress via PSS, and state and personality trait anxiety via STAI) measures of modifiable risk factors. Together, these health variables predicted an additional 19% of the variance in recollection beyond what was accounted for by familiarity, and 15% of the variance in familiarity beyond what was accounted for by recollection. These effects were primarily driven by inflammation, depression, and trait anxiety, which were each significant (p < .05) independent predictors of recognition. Higher levels of depression and inflammation were related to worse recollection yet better familiarity. Higher levels of trait anxiety were related to better recollection but were not related to familiarity. These findings demonstrate complex relationships between these modifiable health risk factors and recognition memory. Future longitudinal and cross-sectional research is needed to further explore these relationships and determine whether or not poor health causes these changes in recognition.

摘要

先前的研究表明，常见的可改变的健康风险因素（例如，抑郁、焦虑、代谢疾病、炎症）可能会对记忆产生影响。在本研究中，我们试图调查这些健康风险因素中的一些与识别记忆的两个组成部分（回忆和熟悉度）之间的关系。对 96 名年龄在 17 至 25 岁之间的健康年轻人的数据进行了分析。使用涉及统一和不相关词对的关联识别程序测量回忆和熟悉度，并使用回归分析将识别记忆性能与身体健康（通过血浆 IL-6 水平的炎症，通过废物与臀部的比率的中心性肥胖，以及心率变异性）和心理健康（抑郁症通过 CESD-R，压力通过 PSS，以及通过 STAI 的状态和人格特质焦虑）可改变的风险因素的措施。总之，这些健康变量预测了 19% 的记忆方差超出了熟悉程度的解释，以及 15% 的熟悉程度的方差超出了回忆的解释。这些影响主要是由炎症、抑郁和特质焦虑驱动的，它们都很重要（p < .05) 识别的独立预测因子。更高水平的抑郁和炎症与更差的回忆但更好的熟悉度有关。更高水平的特质焦虑与更好的回忆有关，但与熟悉程度无关。这些发现证明了这些可改变的健康风险因素与识别记忆之间的复杂关系。需要未来的纵向和横断面研究来进一步探索这些关系，并确定健康不佳是否会导致这些认知变化。