AGING AND THE TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF SELF INITIATED RECALL

Brandeis University, Waltham MA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (adapted from investigator's abstract): One of the most damaging effects of normal aging is that of increasing difficulty with memory for recent events. These are sometimes referred to as episodic memories in that they are encoded within a context, in contrast with one's semantic memory that reflects long-held, context-free, knowledge. Although this difficulty in forming episodic memories is a virtual hallmark of the aging process, the factors that underlie this deficit in self-initiated recall remain largely unknown. This application offers an approach to this question that employs an analysis of the temporal output pattern of recall responses both in the early stages of learning and when young and elderly adults are equated for recall level by allowing differential amounts of practice. In this way, one can examine age differences in strength and organization of memory traces when material is correctly recalled, as well as when memory fails. Of special interest is, first, the way in which semantic organization and temporal information are encoded when sets of verbal materials are learned, and second, the extent to which deficiencies in elderly memory performance result from a failure to form effective retrieval cues based on these factors. A detailed modeling of the age-affected systems could lead not only to a better understanding of aging memory but also provide a theoretical basis on which to build potential schemes for memory remediation among elderly adults suffering age-related memory impairment.