Abstract
BackgroundIndividuals differ in how they remember the past: some richly re-experience specific details of past episodes, whereas others recall only the gist of past events. Little research has examined how such trait mnemonics, or lifelong individual differences in memory capacities, relate to cognitive aging. We specifically examined trait episodic autobiographical memory (AM, the tendency to richly re-experience episodic details of past events) in relation to complaints of everyday cognitive functioning, which are known to increase with age. Although one might predict that individuals reporting higher trait-level episodic AM would be resistant to age-related decline in everyday function, we made the opposite prediction. That is, we predicted that those with lower trait-level episodic AM would be better equipped with compensatory strategies, practiced throughout the lifespan, to cope with age-related memory decline. Those with higher trait-level episodic AM would have enhanced sensitivity to age-related cognitive changes due to their tendency to rely on their perceived above-average memory function.MethodsWe tested these predictions in 959 older adults aged 50–93 using online subjective and objective measures of memory and cognitive function. Our key measures of interest were the Survey of Autobiographical Memory, a measure of autobiographical memory abilities; and the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, a measure of everyday cognitive function.ResultsIn keeping with our prediction, we found that complaints of day-to-day memory slips and errors (normally elevated with age) remained stable or even decreased with age among those reporting lower trait-level episodic AM, whereas those reporting higher trait-level episodic AM reported the expected age-related increase in such errors. This finding was specific to episodic AM and not observed for other autobiographical memory capacities (e.g., semantic, spatial). It was further unaccounted for by response bias or objectively assessed cognitive abilities.ConclusionsCongenitally low trait-level episodic AM may paradoxically confer a functional advantage in aging. This could be due to well-developed non-episodic strategies not present in those with higher abilities, who are more sensitive to age-related memory decline attributable to medial temporal lobe changes. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering individual differences when studying cognitive aging trajectories.
Highlights
Individuals differ in how they remember the past: some richly re-experience specific details of past episodes, whereas others recall only the gist of past events
We first examined whether the Survey of Autobiographical Memory (SAM) measures stable trait-level individual differences in how people tend to access autobiographical memory (AM), rather than differences in memory performance that may decline with age
Given our sample size it is unlikely that this null finding is due to insufficient power, but p-values do not allow us to conclude whether statistical non-significance is due to a lack of sensitivity in the data or to evidence supporting a lack of relationship between the two variables [48]
Summary
Individuals differ in how they remember the past: some richly re-experience specific details of past episodes, whereas others recall only the gist of past events. We examined trait episodic autobiographical memory (AM, the tendency to richly re-experience episodic details of past events) in relation to complaints of everyday cognitive functioning, which are known to increase with age. Given how essential healthy memory function is to the completion of everyday tasks, episodic memory impairments can translate directly into a decline in daily function for older adults [4]. Research in this area has been hampered by two primary limitations: reliance on laboratory-based tests of memory that do not fully capture real-life memory abilities, and failure to consider individual differences. Measures of episodic memory typically show greater decreases in aging than do measures of semantic memory [10,11,12]
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