Age & Memory

Age & Memory

1. neuropsychological perspectives

   • Park & Schwarz (2002) chapter 6
   • frontal lobe theory
     • West (1996)
   • neural noise
     • Wellford
   • sulci become more prominent due to cell loss
   • reduced dendritic branching
   • reduced concentration of NTs
   • intracellular (within cell) changes
   • reduced cerebral blood flow
   • age related atrophy in hippocampus, frontal lobes and cerebellum
     • similar to HM

2. memory

   • Park & Schwarz chapter 5 - discuss each memory type and evidence
   • important to breakdown memory into different components...
   • age differences increase as cognitive/environmental support decreases
     • Bunce et al (2003) cognitive support
   • attribute age effects to memory system (episodic/semantic) or memory structure (LTM, WM etc)

3. LTM

   • Episodic
     • consistent eveidence for age deficits
     • memory for life events
   • Semantic
     • no age effects
     • world knowledge
   • Procedural
     • no age affects
     • driving car
     • playing piano
   • primacy information

4. STM

   • WM
     • age effects
       • processing component
     • actively processing information 'on-line'
   • Primary Memory
     • no age effects
     • passively holding information in mind
   • recency information

5. Implicit vs explicit memory

   • implicit - unconscious processes, no age effects
   • explicit - conscious, age effects
     • hippocampus and frontal lobes
       • ageing adults show frontal lobe and explicit memory declines
   • dissociation through Amnesic and Korsakoff patients