ArticleFrontiers in aging neuroscience2014
What is the role of spatial processing in the decline of episodic memory in Alzheimer's disease? The "mental frame syncing" hypothesis.
Article in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review: Virtual-reality-based techniques for human exercises and health improvement.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Sleep deprivation and memory: A neurobiological perspective.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Digital Therapeutics for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases: Current Trends and Future Perspectives.Medicinal research reviews · 2026Review
- A cognitive-motor framework for spatial navigation in aging and early-stage Alzheimer's disease.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2025Review
- Article
- Orienteering experts report more proficient spatial processing and memory across adulthood.PloS one · 2023Article
- Neurorehabilitation of Spatial Memory Using Virtual Environments: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2019Review
- Disentangling the Contribution of Spatial Reference Frames to Executive Functioning in Healthy and Pathological Aging: An Experimental Study with Virtual Reality.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- Distinct resting-state functional connections associated with episodic and visuospatial memory in older adults.NeuroImage · 2017Article
- A Novel Virtual Reality-Based Training Protocol for the Enhancement of the "Mental Frame Syncing" in Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease: A Development-of-Concept Trial.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2017Article
- Neural Underpinnings of the Decline of Topographical Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment.American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias · 2016Article
- How different spatial representations interact in virtual environments: the role of mental frame syncing.Cognitive processing · 2015Article
- Detecting early egocentric and allocentric impairments deficits in Alzheimer's disease: an experimental study with virtual reality.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2015Article
- OB3D, a new set of 3D objects available for research: a web-based study.Frontiers in psychology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The current theories on episodic memory suggest a crucial role of spatial processing for an effective retrieval. For a successful episodic recall, the long-term allocentric scene has to be translated into an egocentric scene. Here, we argue that a crucial role for an episodic retrieval is played by a "mental frame syncing" between two kinds of allocentric representations. This neurocognitive process allows an effective retrieval of our past experiences by synchronizing the allocentric view-point independent representation with the allocentric view-point dependent representation. If the "mental frame syncing" stops, even momentarily, it is difficult to reconstruct a coherent spatial scaffold upon which to effectively retrieve our previous events within an egocentric perspective. This is what apparently happens in Alzheimer's disease: a break in the "mental frame syncing" between these two kinds of allocentric representations, underpinned by damage to the hippocampus, may contribute significantly to the early deficit in episodic memory.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.