The Extent of Stability and Change in Episodic and Semantic Memory in Old Age: Demographic Predictors of Level and Change

Structural stability and change in semantic and episodic memory performance as well as interindividual differences in 5-year changes in these constructs are examined within a sample of older adults (age rangeT1 = 60–80; n = 361). Interindividual differences in change were limited but significant. St...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2004-05, Vol.59 (3), p.P130-P134
Main Authors: Lövdén, Martin, Rönnlund, Michael, Wahlin, Åke, Bäckman, Lars, Nyberg, Lars, Nilsson, Lars-Göran
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult. Elderly
Age Factors
Aged - psychology
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Biological and medical sciences
Demography
Developmental psychology
Education
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geriatrics
Human
Humans
Learning. Memory
Likelihood Functions
Longitudinal Studies
Memory
Mental Recall - physiology
Middle Aged
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sweden
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Summary:Structural stability and change in semantic and episodic memory performance as well as interindividual differences in 5-year changes in these constructs are examined within a sample of older adults (age rangeT1 = 60–80; n = 361). Interindividual differences in change were limited but significant. Stability coefficients were higher for semantic memory (.95) than for episodic memory (.87). Changes in episodic and semantic memory performance were strongly associated (r =.68). Across time, variances and covariances increased, and a tendency toward dedifferentiation in terms of increasing correlations was found. Chronological age was related to both level and change, but gender and education were only related to level of memory performance. Collectively, these results depict relatively high degrees of structural stability and stability of interindividual differences in declarative memory in old age.
ISSN:1079-5014
1758-5368
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/59.3.P130