Chapter 12 Memory in Older Adults

Age-related memory decline

-evidence supports the idea that older adults have a slower rate of processing than younger adults -evidence supports that older adults do not have a good ability to block out irrelevant stimulation -older adults use less appropriate memory strategies than younger adults -older adults use lower levels of chunking than younger adults

age related changes in working memory

-working memory decline reflects poorer executive control on working memory tasks -younger adults are better at multi-taking than older adults

older adults JOLS

At a global level, OAs believe their memory is worse than it used to be Does this apply at the item level? Hertzog et al., 2002: asked younger and older adults to study word pairs. Some of the word pairs were related (e.g., cat—dog) whereas other word pairs were unrelated (e.g., buffalo—rocket). Older adults gave lower JOLs overall than did the younger adults. Older adults showed just as good accuracy as the younger adults.

Memory Aids

E - I - E - I - O Strategy External aids Notebooks or calendars Internal aids Mental processes, rote rehearsal, method of loci, mnemonics Explicit (direct aids) Implicit (indirect aids) O! or Aha! (suddenly remembering) Memory Drugs: Not very effective in improving memory skills Many drugs cause memory side effects

So what can OAs do to improve memory?

Education and lifestyle are buffers against memory declines and other cognitive declines in old age, including things like: Exercise Physical exercise improves cognitive performance. Learn a new language (or three) Research suggests that older adults who speak four or more languages had the best cognitive state independent of education. Use intact semantic memory in service of episodic memory Older adults are better at memory of related as opposed to unrelated word pairs. Don't buy into stereotypes about aging and memory! Older adults do worse on memory tasks if they believe that age hampers memory ability.

The neuroscience of memory and aging

Evidence suggests shrinkage of cortical mass in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal lobe, two areas of the brain clearly associated with memory. Also shrinkage of white matter tracts in OAs; shrinkage associated with poorer memory function May be why interventions targeting rehabilitation of memory often fail in older adults- the neural systems supporting memory are already degraded Instead, focusing on remediation- identifying strategies, assistive devices, etc that OAs can use to reduce memory demands could have bigger benefits in terms of performance of everyday activities

Value Driven Information Processing in OAs

Last class, we talked about how older adults process information they value differently than information that they do not value Suggesting that certain pieces of information have a higher value- by rewarding performance on that task, giving instructions that one task should be prioritized over another- may influence OA's memory for that information

Memory self-efficacy

Memory self-efficacy Belief that one will be able to perform a specific task One may know a good deal about how memory works, but still believe they possess low ability to perform a specific memory task. Memory successes tend to bolster self-efficacy, and failures reduce one's belief of memory competence. Age Differences in Memory Monitoring The ability to monitor one's memory does not appear to decline with age.

Metamemory in Older Adults

Monitoring: knowing what we know and what we don't know Control: regulation of learning or retrieval based upon monitoring Older adults believe that they have poorer memory than younger adults Also believe that their memories are not as good as they once were Older adults also: Seem to know less about how memory works than younger adults View memory as less stable Expect that memory will deteriorate Perceive they have less control over memory

False memory in older adults

Older adults are more susceptible to the effects of misinformation Older adults are less accurate at many source-memory tasks compared to younger adults Important issue: source misattribution can lead to poor decision making Did a TV doctor or your primary care doctor tell you about a new vitamin? The source here is important in deciding whether you'll take it! Older adults are more prone to object misidentification Believing that a dog leash was really a rope can have negative consequences for memory Older adults' false memory persists even after misperception has been corrected

Consequences of Beliefs about Memory in OAs

Older adults use memory self-perceptions to guide decision making OAs that have higher memory confidence tend to engage in more memory-intensive leisure activities than OAs who have low memory confidence (Castel et al., 2012) OAs who believe their memory is impaired are less likely to engage in strategies to improve memory (Lachman & Andreoletti, 2006)

PM tasks in the lab

Ongoing task: lexical decision task Event based PM task: When you see a specific word ('dancer') or letter string ('man') press a different button Time based PM task: Press a different button when you think that you've been doing the task for 3 minutes from the beginning or the last time you pressed the button, press the button when the clock reads 3:07 pm, 3:24 pm, 3:48 pm

Executive Functioning and Prospective Memory

PM abilities have been shown to be degraded in OAs True for both event and time-based PM tasks, but bigger age effects often observed in time-based tasks Time-based tasks thought to rely heavily on executive control functions Event-based PM tasks may be retrieved more 'spontaneously' given the presentation of the cue May rely less on controlled processing

Metamemory control and JOLs

Souchay and Isingrini (2004): YAs and OAs studied paired associates and make JOLs for each item. Participants were then given the opportunity to restudy. What did they find? Younger adults remembered more of the word pairs than did the older adults. Older adults were equally accurate at predicting their performance as the younger adults. Found exactly a negative correlation between JOLs and study time for both older and younger adults, but the effect was larger among the younger adults.

semantic memory in older adults

older adults are better able to correct semantic memory errors after feedback than younger adults older adults were better at recalling critical lures in the DRM when warned ahead of time

Episodic memory changes in aging

older adults show no differences in recognition but usually worsen at recall recognition was same older adults troubled more in recall