Memory Decline and Age

   There has always been a pre-misconception that as one gets older, their memory, both short-term and long-term, begins to deteriorate. In Cohen et al, these ideas were supported. It was found that when comparing healthy young adults and healthy older adults, the ability to remain new information was far greater in young adults than in older adults. The interesting part is that when testing long-term memory, in particular selective long-term memory, older

adults performed better when recalling high-value information than young adults. Memory capability was assessed by having individuals perform several tasks. One task was intended to test the ability of an individual to retain and repeat the new set of information. The other task was to assess how individuals recollected memory already stored.
       Similarly in Small et al, it was found that in older adults there was a decline in memory performance as time elapses. This cognitive decline can be localized to come from the specific structure of the hippocampus and the damage that it goes through as one ages. Again, it was specifically found that a decline in memory was only discovered to occur when measuring retrieval of new information, not in memory retention of other information.
       There have been many studies that reiterate and reprove that older individuals have weaker performances in memory tasks. It is a well-known fact that with age, memory progressively gets worse. The astonishing results found in Cohen et al. could have major changes in the way the science world, and possibly the mainstream world, thinks about memory in regards to older adults. This, in turn, could be used to open up a whole new approach to studying memory in older adults; ultimately, possibly leading to alternative cures for current memory related illnesses. The question now is, why do older adults place more importance on certain events and are therefore able to recall high-value information better than younger adults?
     

Sources 
Cohen, Michael S., Jesse Rissman, Nanthia A. Suthana, Alan D. Castel, and Barbara J. Knowlton.               "Effects of Aging on Value-directed Modulation of Semantic Network Activity during Verbal             Learning." NeuroImage 125 (2016): 1046-062. Web. 01 May 2016.

Small, S. A., Y. Stern, M. Tang, and R. Mayeux. "Selective Decline in Memory Function among                  Healthy Elderly." Neurology 52.7 (1999): 1392. Web. 01 May 2016.