Work

Lifetime familiarity and episodic familiarity: The role of the transentorhinal cortex in aging.

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: and that it is particularly involved in tasks requiring fine conceptual discrimination between similar objects. The present study examined episodic and lifetime familiarity across three tasks to understand how the tErC supports familiarity, using materials with varying conceptual overlap and lifetime familiarity levels in both normal and pathological aging, encompassing different levels of tErC integrity. METHOD: Fifty-eight older adults (aged 55+), including healthy individuals and patients with mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive decline, completed familiarity tasks. tErC volume was measured via high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and was associated with tasks performance using repeated-measures Analyses of covariance or stepwise linear regressions. RESULTS: The tErC volume was associated with familiarity performance selectively in task conditions involving high conceptual overlap between targets and lures. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that tErC integrity is selectively related to familiarity-based performance when recognition requires resolving interference between conceptually similar items. We discuss how combining tasks assessing different aspects of familiarity could help identify early cognitive decline. We suggest this approach should be tested in patients with AD biomarkers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Neuropsychology

DOI: 10.1037/neu0001102

Authors: Anaïs Servais, Aurélien Frick, François Meyer, Christine Bastin, Emma Delhaye

Institution: University of Liège

Language: English

Topic: Memory Processes and Influences

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Fonds Léon Fredericq