Method of loci and semantic link: assessment of memory benefits in healthy aging

Objective: Episodic memory naturally declines with age. The method of loci is an encodingstrategy that has been shown to enhance episodic memory. However, it relies heavily onassociative memory, as it consists in associating each item of a to-be-learnt list with a locationalong a familiar route, and associative memory is thought to be the source of the episodic age-related decline. However, when associative memory is supported by semantic knowledge, olderadults can compensate for this decline. This study aims to explore the use of the method of loci, that we adapted to leverage pre-existing knowledge in semantic memory, to improve episodicmemory in aging. Methods: Word recall performance of young (18–30 years old) and older(60–75 years old) participants was tested after encoding word lists using the method of lociunder two conditions: congruent or incongruent with pre-existing knowledge, compared to acontrol condition. Results: The results showed significant memory performance improvementin both groups when the method of loci was used with congruent associations. In contrast, inolder adults, performance in the incongruent condition did not improve compared with thatobserved during encoding without a specific strategy, highlighting the importance of semanticlinks for associative memory. Furthermore, using the method of loci with congruentassociations, older adults displayed recall performance equivalent to young adults, while it wasnot the case with incongruent associations. Conclusions: The method of loci applied inconditions of semantic congruence thus appears to be a promising compensatory strategy forolder adults.