Abstract
The effect of aging was studied on emotional word recognition processes. In an episodic memory task young (18 - 26 years, N = 44) and elderly (60 - 71 years N = 47) adults were instructed to memorize a set of emotional words while EEG recording was performed. Memory performance was measured by a recognition test. The N400 and late positive complex (LPC) event-related potential components elicited by new and old words were analyzed. Decreased recognition accuracy and slower reaction time were found in the elderly irrespective of stimulus valence, except for correct rejection of neutral words, where the difference between age groups was not significant. The old/ new effect on the N400 was more robust in the young but for the LPC was more conspicuous in the elderly. The effect of valence observed for negative words was more pronounced in the young both in the earlier (N400) and later (LPC) latency ranges. The findings with respect to the old/new effect indicate prioritized processing of aversive stimuli in the young and may correspond to diminished capacity of adaptive behavior in the elderly.
Highlights
The Event-Related Potential (ERP) correlates of episodic recognition memory are often referred to as the “old/new effect” (Brandt, Nielsen, & Holmes, 2013; Kayser et al, 2010)
Familiarity is considered to correspond to an earlier latency range (300 - 500 ms) of ERPs showing more positivity for correctly recognized old items compared to new ones, seen in a frontocentral N400-like component
The old/new effect manifested in ERP changes was observed for both in the young and the old but only for emotional stimuli, not for neutral one (Newsome et al, 2012)
Summary
Aging and Memory Both short term and long term memory processes are affected by aging shown by declining performance in various. Age-related working memory (WM) decline is considered to be the consequence of increased vulnerability of cognitive control functions. Decline in processing resources (limiting encoding and retrieving capacity), processing speed, and less effective inhibition of gating and selecting information probably all contribute to age-related long term memory deficit (reviewed by Park & Gutschess, 2005). With respect to the declarative vs nondeclarative types of long term memory processes age-related deficits are more obvious in the declarative form of memory (Woodruff-Pak, 1997). Some aspects of memory functions such as familiarity based processes may remain relatively spared during the course of aging (McDaniel, Einstein, & Jacoby, 2008)
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