Differences between the aging process and the chronic cerebrovascular impairment of memory functioning: the emotional and cognitive interaction

Three studies illustrate the relationship between memory, emotion, age, and chronic cerebrovascular disorders (CCVDs). In study A, emotion and age interact to produce secondary effects on memory functioning. In study B, emotion-related complaints are correlated with the cognition-related complaints only for high or low levels of impairment. For intermediate levels of impairment, the two components of subjective complaints are independent. In study C, there is a relationship between aging and the pathological interference by CCVD on memory productivity; young healthy persons do better than aged healthy persons who do better than patients with vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). However, memory processing is different in terms of encoding and organization of stimuli. Young healthy subjects automatically use the semantic structure of the verbal stimuli, whereas the aged healthy persons do so only after a second learning session. Patients with VCI have lost this ability. They keep encoding and organizing items according to the serial effect, the common strategy spontaneously followed by everyone when presented with unstructured stimuli. These are examples of the complex relationships that characterize memory functioning and that should be taken into account when assessing memory when the role of the age factor, the emotional factor, and an eventual CCVD factor should be specifically identified.