Positive Associations between the Personality Trait of Openness and Verbal Learning and Memory in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.

Objective: Individuals with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) often experience difficulties with verbal learning and memory, even in the absence of dementia. Higher levels of the personality trait of openness predict better learning and memory in other older adult populations, but openness's contributions in PD are unknown. Lower openness and alterations in openness's neural substrates in PD suggest that openness may have strong associations with memory in PD.

Method: We used the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) personality self-rating questionnaire and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in a cross-sectional sample of 33 persons with PD (PwPD; 17 men), 26 healthy older adults (OA; 14 men), and 37 healthy younger adults (YA; 19 men). Correlation analysis examined relations between openness (BFI-2 open-mindedness) and verbal learning and memory (RAVLT performances). Correlation and regression analysis controlled for psychosocial and cognitive factors and examined possible moderators and mediators.

Results: Significant, positive correlations between openness and RAVLT scores occurred in PwPD but not in OA or YA. Among PwPD, openness independently predicted most RAVLT scores in regression models. Its associations were not explained by PD duration, disease severity, disease stage, or sex. PwPD low in openness performed worse than OA. Among OA, older age predicted significantly more positive association between openness and memory.

Conclusions: Openness is positively associated with verbal memory in PwPD, as well as in healthy older adults (depending on age), with implications for the relevance of personality factors in cognition.