| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Poster | | Title: Planning moderates success of mental imagery strategy for prospective memory in HIV infection. | | Authors: Weber E, Woods SP, Grant I, and the HNRP Group | | Date: 11-08-2012 | | Abstract:Objective: Mental imagery (MI) holds promise to rehabilitate HIV-associated prospective memory (PM) impairment, but little is known about its cognitive mechanism of action. The present study tested the hypothesis that visual planning abilities moderate the effectiveness of MI for PM in this population.
Method: Participants included 166 HIV-infected individuals who completed a comprehensive neurocognitive assessment. All participants were given a PM intention whereby they were asked to perform a medication management task when shown the grooved pegboard test. Participants were randomized into either: 1) an MI arm in which they were asked to repeat the instructions and visualize the similarities between the cue (i.e., pegboard) and the intention (i.e., pillbox) stimuli, or 2) a control arm in which they repeated the instructions.
Results: Logistic regression analyses revealed no effect of MI on PM task completion (p>0.10) but a significant effect of Tower of London total moves score (ToL; p<0.001) and its interaction with MI (p=0.04). Individuals in the MI condition with intact ToL performance were three times more likely to complete the PM task (OR=3.1 [95% CI=1.6,6.3]; p<0.002), even when covarying for factors on which the PM completion groups differed (e.g., education). MI did not interact with other aspects of executive functions (e.g., switching) or working memory in predicting PM task completion (ps>0.10).
Conclusions: Findings suggest that the cognitive architecture of mental imagery strategies for improving PM rely upon intact planning abilities in HIV+ individuals, and may inform clinicians’ decisions to implement such strategies across patients with differing cognitive strengths. |
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