Age-related differences in associative memory: Empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives.

Abstract

Systematic research and anecdotal evidence both indicate declines in episodic memory in older adults in good health without dementia-related disorders. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these age-related changes in episodic memory, some of which attribute such declines to a deterioration in associative memory. The current special issue of on Age-Related Differences in Associative Memory includes 16 articles by top researchers in the area of memory and aging. Their contributions provide a wealth of empirical work that addresses different aspects of aging and associative memory, including different mediators and predictors of age-related declines in binding and associative memory, cognitive, noncognitive, genetic, and neuro-related ones. The contributions also address the processing phases where these declines manifest themselves and look at ways to ameliorate these age-related declines. Furthermore, the contributions in this issue draw on different theoretical perspectives to explain age-related changes in associative memory and provide a wealth of varying methodologies to assess older and younger adults' performance. Finally, although most of the studies focus on normative/healthy aging, some of them contain insights that are potentially applicable to disorders and pathologies. (PsycINFO Database Record

Short‐Term Memory Span and Cross‐Modality Integration in Younger and Older Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The striking similarity between memory difficulties in ASD and those seen in healthy aging adults [Craik & Anderson, 1999; Craik & Salthouse, 2000; De Beni et al, 2013; Klencklen, Lavenex, Bradner, & Lavenex, 2017; Naveh‐Benjamin, 2000; Naveh‐Benjamin & Mayr, 2018; Tse, Crabtree, Islam, & Stott, 2019], led Bowler and colleagues [Bowler, Gardiner, & Gaigg, 2007; Bowler et al, 2004] to propose an “ aging analogy ” for memory in autism. The analogy has been supported by cross‐sectional studies showing fewer age‐related differences in memory between older and younger ASD adults compared to neurotypical controls [Lever & Geurts, 2016; Lever, Werkle‐Bergner, Branmaier, Ridderinkhof, & Geurts, 2015; Ring, Gaigg, & Bowler, 2016; Roestorf, 2018 but see Geurts & Vissers, 2012; Powell, Klinger, & Klinger, 2017 for more mixed results].…”

“…Bowler et al [2014] interpreted these findings as supporting Bowler et al's [2011] argument for a relational binding deficit in ASD mentioned above and which echoes accounts of the memory difficulties faced by healthy older neurotypical individuals. Prominent among these is Naveh‐Benjamin's associative deficit hypothesis (ADH) [Naveh‐Benjamin, 2000; Peterson & Naveh‐Benjamin, 2016; Naveh‐Benjamin & Mayr, 2018], which sees age‐related declines in declarative episodic memory as the results of a diminished capacity to bind together the defining elements of an episode. Although considerable research supports the ADH [see Old & Naveh‐Benjamin, 2008 for review; Bastin et al, 2013; Craik, Luo, & Sakuta, 2010; Wang, Dew, & Giovanello, 2010], Kirmsse, Zimmer, and Ecker [2018] note that age‐related associative difficulties seem to be less in evidence in studies that use working memory (WM) [Baddeley, 2012] or short‐term memory (STM) paradigms possibly because of procedural differences between methods used to test WM/STM and LTM [see also Allen, 2015].…”

List-strength effects in older adults in recognition and free recall

“…The equivalence (or lack thereof) between older adults and young adults with divided attention has been a topic of ongoing investigation. Some studies reported distinct differences between older adults and young adults with divided attention (e.g., Kilb & Naveh-Benjamin, 2007;Smyth & Naveh-Benjamin, 2016), whereas others found that divided attention young adults behaved similar to older adults (e.g., Castel & Craik, 2003;Jacoby, 1999;Kelley & Sahakyan, 2003), and the issue remains unclear (Naveh- Benjamin & Mayr, 2018). Our recent findings with young adults demonstrate that divided attention at encoding interacts with LSE both in free recall and in recognition (Sahakyan & Malmberg, 2018).…”

Cognitive interventions to improve memory in healthy older adults: the use of Canadian (MEMO) and Brazilian (Stimullus) approaches

“…Significant cognitive changes can be also observed in the aging process, such as slowing cognitive processing, reduced attention span, and decrease in working, prospective and episodic memory (Moraes, Moraes, & Lima, 2010;Naveh-Benjamin, & Mayr, 2018;Xavier, 2006;Yassuda & Paulo, 2010). Studying cognition is of interest to many researchers seeking to understand the declines, gain or maintenance of cognitive functions.…”