Memory and aging: The role of retrieval processes.

Abstract

Older adults have consistently been found to perform more poorly on memory tasks than young adults. This review demonstrates that production deficiency hypotheses are unable to account fully for this fact. We explore the possibility that age-related differences are due to changes in fundamental processes involved in retrieval of information from memory, namely, (a) utilization of contextual information and (b) activation processes occurring in semantic memory. Automatic as well as intentional processes are examined.Both authors contributed equally to this article. The order of authorship was determined by coin toss.Preparation of the manuscript was partially supported by National Institute on Aging Grant 1 RO1 AG 02452-01 to L. L. Light and D. M. Burke.We thank William Banks and Elizabeth Zelinski for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Aging and the neural correlates of source memory: over-recruitment and functional reorganization

“…Normal aging takes a disproportionate toll on context-dependent tasks (e.g., Spaniol et al, 2006). Similar observations were first made nearly 30 years ago (e.g., Burke & Light, 1981) and have since been explained in terms of either general deficits, such as age-related declines in self-initiated processing (e.g., Craik, 1986), frontal lobe functioning (e.g., Glisky et al, 2001), working memory (e.g., Park & Payer, 2006), perceptual-motor speed (e.g., Siedlecki et al, 2005), and dopaminergic neuromodulation (Li & Sikström, 2002), or in terms of specific deficits, such as age-related declines in recollection (e.g., Jacoby, 1999), memory binding (e.g., Chalfonte & Johnson, 1996), and associative encoding (e.g., Naveh-Benjamin, 2000). In the current study we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that aging is associated with specific losses in context processing that can be distinguished from general decrements in response to task difficulty.…”

Leadership and Small Firm Financial Performance: The Moderating Effects of Demographic Characteristics

“…On the other hand, Zacher, Rosing, Henning, and Freese (2011) demonstrate that the age of the leader was positively associated to leader generativity, and according to generativity theory (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992) older leaders demonstrate more transformational leadership skills than their younger counterparts. Further, research suggests that memory, reasoning skill, and ability to learn diminish with age (Burke & Light, 1981) and other studies indicate that younger managers have superior technical competence due to more recent educational training (Bantel & Jackson, 1989). Thus, for the current study the hypothesis for the moderating effect of age was that this variable would, on both transformational and transactional leadership, be negatively associated with unit sales and profit margin performance.…”

A diffusion model analysis of adult age differences in episodic and semantic long-term memory retrieval.

“…Source memory tasks, by definition, make heavy demands on context memory, as do serial-order memory tasks and recall. The hypothesis that aging leads to disproportionate declines in context processing was first formulated in the early 1980s (e.g., Burke & Light, 1981;Rabinowitz & Ackerman, 1982) and continues to be a central theme of research on cognitive aging (e.g., Braver et al, 2001). Age differences in memory tasks tend to increase as a function of the tasks' reliance on memory for contextual detail (for empirical and theoretical reviews, see Light, 1996;2000b;Spaniol & Bayen, 2004;Spencer & Raz, 1995;Verhaeghen, Marcoen, & Goossens, 1993;Zacks et al, 2000).…”