Aging, short-term memory, and frontal dysfunction

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the performance of young and old subjects on the Brown-Peterson (HP) task and on a task of recognition memory. Age-related deficits were found on both tasks. For old subjects, BP performance was positively related to both recognition accuracy and intactness of frontal lobe function, as measured by word fluency and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Recognition accuracy did not correlate with either frontal measure, and no correlations of theoretical significance were found in the younger group. The data are interpreted as showing that age-related differences in BP performance reflect two factors—a deficit in initial acquisition, and a retrieval deficit stemming from the frontal atrophy known to be associated with normal aging. © 1991, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.