Memory and Aging: Current Issues and Future Directions

Current demographical patterns predict an aging worldwide population. It is projected that by 2050, more than 20% of the US population and 40% of the Japanese population will be older than 65. A dramatic increase in research on memory and aging has emerged to understand the age-related changes in memory since the ability to learn new information and retrieve previously learned information is essential for successful aging, and allows older adults to adapt to changes in their environment, self-concept, and social roles. This volume represents the latest psychological research on different aspects of age-related changes in memory. Written by a group of leading international researchers, its chapters cover a broad array of issues concerning the changes that occur in memory as people grow older, including the mechanisms and processes underlying these age-related memory changes, how these changes interact with social and cultural environments, and potential programs intended to increase memory performance in old age. Similarly, the chapters draw upon diverse methodological approaches, including cross-cultural extreme group experimental designs, longitudinal designs assessing intra-participant change, and computational approaches and neuroimaging assessment. Together, they provide converging evidence for stability and change in memory as people grow older, for the underlying causes of these patterns, as well as for the heterogeneity in older adults' performance. Memory and Aging is essential reading for researchers in memory, cognitive aging, and gerontology.

Table of Contents:

M. Naveh-Benjamin, N. Ohta, Preface. Part I. Psychological Perspectives: Short-Term and Working Memory. P. Verhaegen, Working Memory Still Working: Age-Related Difference in Working Memory Functioning and Cognitive Control. S. Kemper, The Interaction of Linguistic Constraints, Working Memory, and Aging on Language Production and Comprehension. E. Harada, Error Repetition Phenomenon and its Relation to Cognitive Control, Working Memory and Aging: Why Does it Happen Outside the Psychology Laboratory? Part 2. Psychological Perspectives: Long-Term Memory. M. Naveh-Benjamin, Age-Related Changes in Episodic Memory: Automatic and Strategic Contributions. L. Light, Dual Process Theories of Memory in Old Age: An Update. D. Howard, J. Howard, Dissociable Forms of Implicit Learning in Aging. G. Einstein, M. McDaniel, M. Scullin, Prospective Memory and Aging: Understanding the Variability. Part 3. Social, Emotional, and Cultural Perspectives. T. Hess, L. Emery, Memory in Context: The Impact of Age-Related Goals on Performance. E. Kensinger, Emotion-Memory Interactions in Older Adulthood. A. Castel, S. McGillivray, M.C. Friedman, Metamemory and Memory Efficiency in Older Adults: Learning about the Benefits of Priority Processing and Value-Directed Remembering. Part 4. Neuroscientific, Biological, Epidemiological, and Health Perspectives. G. Kalpouzos, L. Nyberg, Multimodal Neuroimaging in Normal Aging: Structure-Function Interactions. S.-C. Li, Dopaminergic Modulation of Memory Aging: Neurocomputational, Neurocognitive, and Genetic Evidence. R. Dixon, B.J. Small, S.W.S. MacDonald, J.J. McArdle, Yes, Memory Declines With Aging—But When, How, and Why? K. Anstey, Biomarkers and Memory Aging: A Lifecourse Perspective.