Lecture 2: Normal cognitive ageing (Neuropsychology of Ageing)
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Course
Neuropsychology Of Ageing (P_BNPSOUD)
Institution
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
This lecture contains all the information from the second lecture of the course Neuropsychology of ageing at the VU. The summary is supplemented with pictures from the slides and extensive notes from the professor.
Normal ageing effect on memory
Deterioration of memory associated with ageing
Different effects on different types and stages of memory
o “Ageing affects memory” oversimplification: you must consider different
aspects of memory. Because some forms of memory seem to be hardly
affected and others much more. The conclusion that ageing affects memory is
an oversimplification!
Memory types: short term & long-term store
Short term store: primary memory: e.g., digit span forward (immediately reproducing
what you have heard)
Working memory: e.g., digit span backward, reading span (this is more demanding, it
is not just reproducing but you must process)
Long term store
Declarative: conscious recall and recognition
Procedural/non-declarative: processes involved in skills and automatic operations
Explicit: similar declarative memory
Implicit: learning and retrieval ‘incidental’
Episodic: personal meaningful events
Semantic: facts, knowledge
Prospective memory: remember things to do
Stages
Encoding: formation of memory traces
Storage: retaining the memory traces
Retrieval: recovering the traces to become accessible to awareness again
There are different age effects per stage.
Short term store
, - Short term memory: minor effects of age
- Working memory: age effect meta-analysis verbal memory (123 studies)
o Modest effect age in maintenance of material
E.g., digit span forward: age difference = 0.53
On average, younger adults recalled 0.53 items more than older
adults. There was a slight advantage, but it was not huge.
o Large effect age: processing component added to maintenance of material
working memory
e.g., computation span or reading span tasks
Working memory is negatively affected by ageing.
Average age difference = 1.54
On average, younger adults recalled 1.54 more items than the older
adults. So, the age effect here was larger than in the simpler
maintaining task.
Modest age effect maintenance of material (D)
Large effect with added processing component (B): the decline is much faster which
means that the age effect is larger
Different forms of memory are differently affected by ageing!!
Long term store: episodic memory
Incidental versus intentional learning
Incidental: encoding/learning information without expecting memory test
Intentional: encoding/learning with knowledge that information will be required at a
later time
o E.g., trying to remember telephone number
Age effect is larger for intentional coding than incidental coding
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