The negative impact of COVID-19 on working memory revealed using a rapid online quiz

  1. Heidi A. Baseler
  2. Murat Aksoy
  3. Abayomi Salawu
  4. Angela Green
  5. Aziz U. R. Asghar

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Abstract

Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the respiratory system, it can also have neurological consequences leading to cognitive deficits such as memory problems. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on working memory function. We developed and implemented an online anonymous survey with a working memory quiz incorporating aspects of gamification to engage participants. 5428 participants successfully completed the survey and memory quiz between 8 th December 2020 and 5 th July 2021 (68.6% non-COVID-19 and 31.4% COVID-19). Most participants (93.3%) completed the survey and memory quiz relatively rapidly (mean time of 8.84 minutes). Categorical regression was used to assess the contribution of COVID status, age, time post-COVID (number of months elapsed since having had COVID), symptoms, ongoing symptoms and gender, followed by non-parametric statistics. A principal component analysis explored the relationship between subjective ratings and objective memory scores. The objective memory scores were significantly correlated with participants’ own assessment of their cognitive function. The factors significantly affecting memory scores were COVID status, age, time post-COVID and ongoing symptoms. Our main finding was a significant reduction in memory scores in all COVID groups (self-reported, positive-tested and hospitalized) compared to the non-COVID group. Memory scores for all COVID groups combined were significantly reduced compared to the non-COVID group in every age category 25 years and over, but not for the youngest age category (18–24 years old). We found that memory scores gradually increased over a period of 17 months post-COVID-19. However, those with ongoing COVID-19 symptoms continued to show a reduction in memory scores. Our findings demonstrate that COVID-19 negatively impacts working memory function, but only in adults aged 25 years and over. Moreover, our results suggest that working memory deficits with COVID-19 can recover over time, although impairments may persist in those with ongoing symptoms.

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  1. Version published to 10.1371/journal.pone.0269353
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.05.20.22275380: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: Local ethical approval was given by the Hull York Medical School Ethics Committee (Reference 20 62).
    Consent: Only participants who gave their active digital informed consent were allowed to complete the survey and memory quiz.
    Sex as a biological variableFirst, we assessed the contributions of COVID status (x2 groups: non-COVID, COVID), symptoms (2 groups: symptoms, no symptoms), ongoing symptoms (2 groups: ongoing symptoms, no ongoing symptoms), age (8 groups: 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75-84 and 85+) and gender (2 groups: female, male).
    Randomization’ The animal category was presented first to encourage participants to engage with the memory task, followed by either the number or fruit categories (randomised).
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    All images were edited using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 software.
    Adobe Photoshop
    suggested: (Adobe Photoshop, RRID:SCR_014199)
    Data analysis: Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (Version 27.0, IBM Corporation, Armonk, N.Y., USA).
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    One limitation with our survey and memory quiz was that it was not conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. For instance, the presence of a researcher may encourage a participant to take the survey more seriously and answer the questions accurately. However, requiring the presence of a researcher would make the study more practically challenging and would limit the number of participants that could be recruited. Furthermore, the presence of a researcher does not necessarily ensure that participants will complete all aspects of the survey and memory quiz accurately. It is also possible that participants may have been distracted during our memory quiz thereby affecting the scores. We attempted to mitigate against this possibility by instructing participants to complete the quiz in a quiet place without distractions. Nevertheless, the large number of participants in both the COVID and non-COVID groups was able to provide sufficient power to reveal a highly significant difference. In our study, 31.4% of participants reported having had COVID-19 between January 2020 and July 2021. These included those who self-reported, tested positive and were hospitalised with COVID-19. Since COVID-19 tests were not commonly available in the earlier stages of the pandemic, we allowed participants to self-report whether they thought they may have had COVID-19. We cannot be certain whether these participants in fact had COVID-19. However, we found no significant difference in memory score...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a protocol registration statement.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.05.20.22275380v1 on medRxiv