Explaining Age Differences in Temporal Working Memory

To determine the cognitive mechanisms underlying age differences in temporal working memory (WM), the authors examined the contributions of item memory, associative memory, simple order memory, and multiple item memory, using parallel versions of the delayed-matching-to-sample task. Older adults per...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology and aging 2005-12, Vol.20 (4), p.645-656
Main Authors: Hartman, Marilyn, Warren, Lauren H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Age Differences
Age Factors
Ageing
Aging
Association
Associative Memory
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Processes
Developmental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Male
Memory
Memory Disorders - diagnosis
Neuropsychological Tests
Older people
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Short Term Memory
Time Perception
Working memory
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To determine the cognitive mechanisms underlying age differences in temporal working memory (WM), the authors examined the contributions of item memory, associative memory, simple order memory, and multiple item memory, using parallel versions of the delayed-matching-to-sample task. Older adults performed more poorly than younger adults on tests of temporal memory, but there were no age differences in nonassociative item memory, regardless of the amount of information to be learned. In contrast, a combination of associative and simple order memory, both of which were reduced in older adults, completely accounted for age-related declines in temporal memory. The authors conclude that 2 mechanisms may underlie age differences in temporal WM, namely, a generalized decline in associative ability and a specific difficulty with order information.
ISSN:0882-7974
1939-1498
DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.20.4.645