The Effects of Healthy Adult Aging on Recognition Memory and Performance on Tests That Rely on Frontal and Medial Temporal Lobe Function: Evidence Contradicting The DPHMA.

Abstract

Dual process theories account for age-related changes in memory by proposing that old age is associated with deficits in recollection together with invariance in familiarity (DPHMA). The authors evaluated the DPHMA by examining recollection and familiarity estimates in young and older adults. The results of this study do not support either premise of the DPHMA: older adults were impaired in the familiarity component of recognition memory, while performing similarly to the younger group in terms of recollection. A second goal within the study was to investigate correlations between recollection and familiarity estimates and scores on tests thought to rely on frontal and medial temporal lobe regions. The only correlation that arose was between recollection and a medial temporal lobe measure in the older group. Limitations of the literature are considered and it is suggested that future research should consider individual effects of aging on older adult brain function.