Openness to experience, a personality trait that reduces susceptibility to memory age-based stereotype threat.

Introduction: Age-based stereotype threat (ABST), the concern of being judged according to a negative age stereotype may lead to underperformance in the stereotype domain. The present study aims to replicate the negative effect of ABST on episodic memory. Importantly, we further examine openness to experience as a potential buffer of the ABST effect as well as the role that different memory strategies may play in episodic memory performance.

Kinematic observation reduces effect of aging on episodic memory performance.

This study investigated the influence of kinematics observation (i.e., observing action from only the motion of the main joints of an actor) on episodic memory performance differences between young and older adults.

Impact of working memory capacity on predominance of parietal over frontal P300 amplitude.

Working memory-related neural activity varies with task load, and these neural variations can be constrained by working memory capacity (WMC). For instance, some studies suggest that parietal and frontal P300 amplitudes, reflecting working memory functioning, vary differentially with task load and WMC. The present study explored whether the predominance of parietal over frontal P300 amplitude is related to WMC, and whether this relationship varies according to task load.

The respective contribution of cognitive control and working memory to semantic and subjective organization in aging.

Organizing information is beneficial to episodic memory performance. Among several possible organizational strategies, two consist of organizing the information in semantic clusters (semantic organization) or self-organizing the information based on new associations that do not exist in semantic memory (subjective organization). Here, we investigated in a single study how these two organizational behaviors were underlined by different controlled processes and whether these relations were subjected to age-related differences.

[Aging, memory performance and metacognitive beliefs: a narrative review].

Aging is characterized by an increase in older adults’ negative beliefs about their memory. These negative metamemory beliefs are thought to decrease their motivation to engage in memory tasks and to implement effective memory strategies leading to decreased memory performance. Memory assessment conditions tend to accentuate this phenomenon by increasing the salience of negative metamemory beliefs, resulting in an artificial reduction in memory performance (i.

The protective effect of educational level varies as a function of the difficulty of the memory task in ageing.

Unlabelled: This study aimed to explore the effects of age and educational level on recall performance and organisational strategies used during recall as a function of the level of memory task difficulty. Younger ( = 55, age range = 20-39 years) and older ( = 45, age range = 65-75 years) adults learned a word list where the words were either already semantically grouped (easier) or presented in pseudo-random order (harder), and then recalled the words. The number of words recalled was calculated, and an index of clustering was computed to assess organisational strategies.

Cognitive mechanisms underlying free recall in episodic memory performance across the lifespan: testing the control/representation model.

Episodic memory (EM) develops up to early adulthood, and declines in aging, following an inverted U-shaped profile. This study assessed the contribution of both Control (processes enabling adaptive and flexible behaviour in line with current goals) and Representation (crystallized schemas involved in memory and general knowledge) as factors likely to underlie this pattern of change. We hypothesized that these two cognitive resources are differentially involved in EM performance across development and aging.

Metamemory mediates the protective effect of cognitive reserve on episodic memory during aging.

The present study investigated the impact of cognitive reserve on episodic memory and metamemory control during aging using a multidimensional index of cognitive reserve and a measure of metamemory control abilities. We tested the hypotheses that cognitive reserve may play a protective role against age-related differences in episodic memory and metamemory control and that metamemory control may mediate the effect of cognitive reserve on episodic memory during aging. Young and older adults carried out a readiness-recall task in which task difficulty was manipulated through a variation of the nature of the cue-target pair link (weak vs.

Involvement of executive control in neural capacity related to working memory in aging: an ERP P300 study.

Executive control could be involved in neural capacity, which corresponds to the modulation of neural activity with increased task difficulty. Thus, by exploring the P300-an electrophysiological correlate of working memory-we examined the role played by executive control in both the age-related decline in working memory and neural capacity in aging. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while younger and older participants performed a Sternberg task with two set sizes (2 vs.

The age-related effect on electrophysiological correlates of successful episodic memory encoding supports the hypothesis of a deficit in self-initiated encoding processes in aging.

Episodic memory decline with aging may be due to an age-related deficit in encoding processing, older adults having increasing difficulty to self-initiate encoding strategies that support later retrieval. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study explored for the first time the neural correlates of successful encoding in a resource-dependent episodic memory task, in which participants had to self-initiate processes at both encoding and retrieval. At the behavioral level, results confirm the better memory performance of young than older adults.

Episodic memory and ageing: the role of cognitive reserve factors and cognitive resources according to task difficulty.

Background: Episodic memory is the memory system which is most affected by ageing. However, similar memory decline is not seen in all older adults. Various cognitive reserve factors, such as the Openness Personality Trait and level of educational attainment, and cognitive resources linked to these factors, such as executive control and crystallised knowledge, can predict older adults' memory performance.

Effect of self-reported internal memory strategy use on age-related episodic and working memory decline: Contribution of control processes.

We explored whether control processes could account for age-related differences in internal strategy use, which in turn would contribute to episodic and working memory decline in aging. Young and older adults completed the internal strategy subscale of the Metamemory in Adulthood (MIA) questionnaire, a free-recall task (FRT), a reading span task (RST), and 3 executive control tasks (the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Initial Letter Fluency Test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test) allowing us to calculate a composite index of control processes. Results indicated that both self-reported internal strategy use and control processes index accounted for a significant proportion of the age-related variance in the FRT and the RST.

[Episodic memory and aging: The role of cognitive reserve and cognitive resources according to task difficulty].

Background: Episodic memory is the most affected memory system in aging. However, memory decline is not similar in every older adult. Various cognitive reserve factors, as Openness personality trait or educational level, and cognitive resources linked to these factors, as executive control and crystallized knowledge, can predict older adults' memory performance.

Neural correlates of episodic memory change in increasing age: a longitudinal event-related potential study.

Using a longitudinal design, we examined whether event-related brain potentials (ERPs) correlates of successful episodic memory retrieval varied over a 4-year period according to the level of memory change. ERPs were recorded while participants performed a word-stem cued-recall task, and this procedure was repeated 4 years later. We compared the ERP old/new effect patterns of participants whose memory performance remained stable over time (stable group) with those of participants experiencing episodic memory decline (decline group).

Memory Age-based Stereotype Threat: Role of Locus of Control and Anxiety.

: Age-related stereotype threat impacts episodic memory performance. This study compared the predictors of memory performance in older adults with and without exposure to age-related stereotype threat, hypothesizing that activating the stereotype threat modulates the relative weight of metamemory predictors of memory performance.: Participants were 80 older adults (aged 60-84 years) divided into two groups, one with stereotype threat activation and one without; both groups performed an episodic memory task.

Differential protective role of control and representation against age-related memory decline.

Control and representation (Craik & Bialystok, 2006, 2008) could be considered as potential cognitive resources playing a protective role against age-related memory decline. The main objective of this study was to explore whether the protective role (passive vs. active) associated with these resources varies according to the characteristics of the memory task.

Inhibitory control of threat remembering in PTSD.

Intrusive traumatic recollections suggest an inability in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to control and notably to inhibit memories for trauma-related information. Supported by inhibitory deficits found on experimental settings in PTSD, memory functioning and memory biases in the disorder were usually explained through inhibitory and control deficits in the processing of trauma-related information. The present study aimed to directly assess this hypothesis by investigating memory control abilities for emotional information in PTSD.

Optimizing memory strategy use in young and older adults: The role of metamemory and internal strategy use.

We explored whether experiencing differential efficacy of reading and generation for memory in an initial learning trial led younger and older adults to improve recall of read items in a subsequent learning trial, leading to a reduction of the generation effect. In the first trial, generation improved the memory performance of both young and older adults. However, in Trial 2, the generation effect remained significant for older adults only, confirming that they did not change the way they processed read items, unlike the young adults.

Event-related brain potential correlates of brain reorganization of episodic memory throughout the adult lifespan.

The main aim of this study was to characterize the age-related evolution of the event-related brain potentials correlates of successful to tackle the neural reorganization patterns associated with this episodic retrieval. We thus examined the evolution of the event-related brain potential old/new effect across the adult lifespan, in five groups, aged 21-70 years (21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70 years), equalized on their memory performance through a word-stem cued-recall task. This procedure makes it possible to examine the evolution of age-related changes in brain organization during adulthood and to specify the age onset of these changes.

Brain tissue pulsatility mediates cognitive and electrophysiological changes in normal aging: Evidence from ultrasound tissue pulsatility imaging (TPI).

Aging is characterized by a cognitive decline of fluid abilities and is also associated with electrophysiological changes. The vascular hypothesis proposes that brain is sensitive to vascular dysfunction which may accelerate age-related brain modifications and thus explain age-related neurocognitive decline. To test this hypothesis, cognitive performance was measured in 39 healthy participants from 20 to 80 years, using tests assessing inhibition, fluid intelligence, attention and crystallized abilities.

What can ERPs tell us about the generation effect?

The present experiment aimed to gain further understanding of the generation effect by investigating its neural correlates during encoding using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants first encoded pairs of words under either a read or a generate condition and then completed a cued-recall task. Results confirmed the benefit of generation on memory performance.

Age Differences in Reliance on Executive Control in Fluid Reasoning.

While executive control (processes that facilitate the adaptation to new and/or complex situations) show an age-related decline, behavioral studies have observed stronger correlations between control and certain cognitive functions in older compared to young adults, which are often interpreted as an increase in the reliance on controlled processes with aging. Fifty-seven young adults (M=27.4 year, SD = 4.

Episodic feeling-of-knowing relies on noncriterial recollection and familiarity: Evidence using an online remember-know procedure.

We examined the hypothesis that feeling-of-knowing judgments rely on recollection as well as on familiarity prompted by the cue presentation. A remember-know-no memory procedure was combined with the episodic FOK procedure employing a cue-target pair memory task. The magnitude of FOK judgments and FOK accuracy were examined as a function of recollection, familiarity, or the "no memory" option.

Age-Related Differences in the Reliance on Executive Control in Working Memory: Role of Task Demand.

We examined the hypothesis that age-related differences in the reliance on executive control may be better explained by variations of task demand than by a mechanism specifically linked to aging. To this end, we compared the relationship between the performance of young and older adults on two executive functioning tests and an updating working-memory task with different load levels. The results revealed a significant interaction between age, task demand, and individual executive capacities, indicating that executive resources were only involved at lower loads in older adults, and only at higher loads in young adults.

Age-related differences in time-based prospective memory: The role of time estimation in the clock monitoring strategy.

Time-based prospective memory (TBPM) is required when it is necessary to remember to perform an action at a specific future point in time. This type of memory has been found to be particularly sensitive to ageing, probably because it requires a self-initiated response at a specific time. In this study, we sought to examine the involvement of temporal processes in the time monitoring strategy, which has been demonstrated to be a decisive factor in TBPM efficiency.