Associations Between Episodic Memory and Hippocampal Volume in Late Adulthood

Sarah L Aghjayan; Sarah E Polk; Hayley S Ripperger; Haiqing Huang; Lu Wan; Thomas Kamarck; Anna L Marsland; Chaeryon Kang; Michelle W Voss; Bradley P Sutton; Lauren E Oberlin; Jeffrey M Burns; Eric D Vidoni; Edward McAuley; Charles H Hillman; Arthur F Kramer; Kirk I Erickson

doi:10.1002/hipo.70010

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Associations Between Episodic Memory and Hippocampal Volume in Late Adulthood

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Associations Between Episodic Memory and Hippocampal Volume in Late Adulthood

Sarah L Aghjayan, Sarah E Polk, Hayley S Ripperger, Haiqing Huang, Lu Wan, Thomas Kamarck, Anna L Marsland, Chaeryon Kang, Michelle W Voss, Bradley P Sutton, …

Hippocampus, Vol.35(2), e70010

03/2025

DOI: 10.1002/hipo.70010

PMCID: PMC12001747

PMID: 40129092

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12001747/View

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Abstract

Different tasks of episodic memory (EM) are only moderately correlated with each other. Furthermore, various EM tasks exhibit disproportional relationships with the hippocampus. This study examined the covariance structure of EM tasks and assessed whether this structure relates differently to hippocampal volume (HV) in a sample of 648 cognitively unimpaired older adults (mean age = 69.88). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and linear regression models were used to test the associations between the observed factors of EM and HV. A model with three first-order subfactors (immediate verbal recall, delayed verbal recall, and visuospatial) derived from a second-order EM domain factor satisfied model fit (χ p value ≥ 0.05, CFI > 0.90, RMSEA < 0.08, SRMR < 0.08). Total, left, and right HV explained a similar amount of variance in all EM subfactors. CA1, CA3, subiculum, and entorhinal cortex volume were associated with all subfactors, while CA2 and dentate gyrus volume were not associated with EM. These results suggest that EM tasks are measuring the same construct, but different complex processes contribute to EM. Furthermore, HV accounted for a small portion of the variance in EM, suggesting that HV might not be a useful marker of EM in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Finally, this study provides evidence that various hippocampal subfield volumes may not be purely associated with any one aspect of EM processing.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Aged

Aged, 80 and over

Female

Hippocampus - anatomy & histology

Hippocampus - diagnostic imaging

Hippocampus - physiology

Humans

Male

Memory, Episodic

Mental Recall - physiology

Middle Aged

Organ Size - physiology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Associations Between Episodic Memory and Hippocampal Volume in Late Adulthood
Creators: Sarah L Aghjayan - University of Pittsburgh
Sarah E Polk - Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Hayley S Ripperger - University of Pittsburgh
Haiqing Huang - AdventHealth Orlando
Lu Wan - AdventHealth Orlando
Thomas Kamarck - University of Pittsburgh
Anna L Marsland - University of Pittsburgh
Chaeryon Kang - University of Pittsburgh
Michelle W Voss - University of Iowa
Bradley P Sutton - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Lauren E Oberlin - AdventHealth Orlando
Jeffrey M Burns - University of Kansas Medical Center
Eric D Vidoni - University of Kansas Medical Center
Edward McAuley - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Charles H Hillman - Northeastern University
Arthur F Kramer - Northeastern University
Kirk I Erickson - University of Pittsburgh
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Hippocampus, Vol.35(2), e70010
DOI: 10.1002/hipo.70010
PMID: 40129092
PMCID: PMC12001747
NLM abbreviation: Hippocampus
ISSN: 1050-9631
eISSN: 1098-1063
Publisher: Wiley
Grant note: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation R01AG053952 / NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 03/2025
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984802407402771

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