Ra’shida Rockette, “Memory Changes In Cognitively Healthy Older Adults: Age Effects In Memory-Based Inference”
Mentor: Caitlin Bowman, Psychology
Poster #4

Associative memory is a cognitive ability in which the brain links related pieces of information and stores them together in memory. It is well established that older adults tend to have more difficulty than young adults in forming new associative memories. How we might improve associative memory in older adults is therefore a key question. This study investigated differences in behavioral performance (accuracy) on direct versus inference (indirect) pairs and whether stimuli categories influenced accuracy in an associative inference task. We were particularly interested in whether this manipulation would reduce age deficits in associative memory. This study was a two-session study; participants were first given a cognitive assessment to ensure that they are cognitively healthy and eligible to participate. On a separate day, participants returned and underwent fMRI while completing a computerized memory task in which they first learned image pairs were tested on their memory for those associations. The image pairs could either be from the same category (man-made or organic) or a mix of one item from each category. This study is currently still within the early preliminary stage. 10 individuals have completed the study; five older individuals and five younger individuals. This research is necessary to understand if there are changes in a person’s ability to use associative inference as they age. This is especially important in understanding how older individuals use memory to learn new information.