Effects of Age on the Neural Correlates of Familiarity as Indexed by ERPs

Abstract

Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from samples of young (18–29yrs) and older (63–77yrs) subjects while they performed a modified `Remember/Know' recognition memory test. ERP correlates of familiarity-driven recognition were obtained by contrasting the waveforms elicited by unrecollected test items accorded `confident old' and `confident new' judgments. Correlates of recollection were identified by contrasting the ERPs elicited by items accorded `Remember' and confident old judgments. Behavioral analyses revealed lower estimates of both recollection and familiarity in older than in young subjects. The putative ERP correlate of recollection – the `left parietal old/new effect' – was evident in both age groups, although it was slightly but significantly smaller in the older sample. By contrast, the putative ERP correlate of familiarity – the `mid-frontal old/new effect' – could be identified in the young subjects only. This age-related difference in the sensitivity of ERPs to familiarity was also evident in sub-groups of young and older subjects in whom familiarity-based recognition performance was equivalent. Thus, the inability to detect a reliable mid-frontal old/new effect in older subjects was not a consequence of an age-related decline in the strength of familiarity. These findings raise the possibility that familiarity-based recognition memory depends upon qualitatively different memory signals in older and young adults.

Fluency affects source memory for familiar names in younger and older adults: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

“…Whereas some researchers observed similar parietal effects in young and older adults (e.g. Mark & Rugg, 1998;Osorio, Ballesteros, Fay, & Pouthas, 2009;Trott, Friedman, Ritter, & Fabiani, 1997), others found this effect to be reduced or absent in older groups (Nessler, Friedman, Johnson, & Bersick, 2007;Swick & Knight, 1997;Wang, de Chastelaine, Minton, & Rugg, 2012). While these latter findings are generally in line with the suggestion of reduced recollection in older adults (e.g.…”

“…This interpretation in turn would suggest that the processes reflected in the 300 -600 ms time window in older adults are different from those observed in young adults, who demonstrated larger amplitudes for visually learned names. Potentially related to this idea it has been proposed that qualitatively different signals accompany fluency-based processes in older and younger adults (Wang et al, 2012). Independent of the exact interpretation of this finding, a relatively early ERP effect again clearly distinguished between correctly assigned auditorily and visually learned items.…”

“…In addition, several studies found the earlier frontal old/new effect to be absent in older adults (in a deep but not in a shallow encoding condition, see Osorio et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2012;Wolk et al, 2009). As familiarity is typically assumed to be intact in this age group, this finding has been interpreted as reflecting qualitative differences in the neural signals reflecting familiarity in young versus older adults (Wang et al, 2012). Finally, with respect to late frontal effects, results are again mixed, with some studies showing similar LFEs in young and older adults (e.g.…”

Unitization improves source memory in older adults: An event-related potential study

“…It has been assumed that both familiarity and recollection can independently support item memory, whereas only recollection can support associative memory for which the context or source details associated with the item are consciously retrieved (Wilding, 2000;Woodruff, Johnson, Uncapher, & Rugg, 2005;Rugg, Schloerscheidt, & Mark, 1998; see Diana, Yonelinas, & Ranganath, 2007;Rugg & Yonelinas, 2003 for reviews). The increased age differences in associative memory relative to item memory have been attributed to impaired recollection, despite having a relatively preserved familiarity in older adults (Cohn, Emrich, & Moscovitch, 2008;Daselaar, Fleck, Dobbins, Madden, & Cabeza, 2006;Friedman, 2013;Howard, Bessette-Symons, Zhang, & Hoyer, 2006;Koen & Yonelinas 2014;Yonelinas, 2002; but see Wang, de Chastelaine, Minton, & Rugg, 2012).…”

Memória de Reconhecimento: Modelos de Processamento Simples versus Duplo

“…Estudos utilizando Potenciais Relacionados ao Evento (PRE), por exemplo, demonstram que os processos de familiaridade e recordação eliciam ativações eletrofisiológicas qualitativamente dissociáveis durante testes de reconhecimento (Wang, Chastelaine, Minton, & Rugg, 2012;Jaeger, Johnson, Corona, & Rugg, 2009;Jaeger & Parente, 2008;Rugg & Curran, 2007;Vilberg, Moosavi, & Rugg, 2006), sugerindo de modo contundente que familiaridade e recordação consistem em processos distintos.…”