Timing matters: age-related changes in episodic retrieval control as revealed by event-related potentials

The retrieval of information from episodic memory involves the engagement of pre-retrieval control processes that facilitate the recovery of task-relevant information. The development of these processes was investigated here by comparing neural correlates of retrieval orientation between 13-14-year-old adolescents and young adults. In each age group, event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by new test pictures were contrasted across two recognition memory tasks (specific vs. general retrieval tasks), which were designed to place greater demands on the recovery of perceptual information associated with each picture in the specific than in the general task. Memory accuracy was higher in the general than in the specific task but did not differ between age groups. In adults, new item ERPs at anterior sites were more positive going in the specific than in the general task from 400 to 1,200 ms. In adolescents, the onset latency of this effect was delayed by 300 ms relative to adults, even though no age differences in response speed were obtained in either task. The magnitude of the ERP new item effect in adults correlated with response accuracy, consistent with the view that pre-retrieval processes facilitate the recovery of task-relevant information. For adolescents, this relationship was only obtained for a subset of participants with early onsetting ERP effects, supporting the claim that the influence of pre-retrieval processes depends upon their temporal onset. Together, the findings suggest age-related changes in the efficiency of using control processes to facilitate successful retrieval while highlighting the role of onset latency in mediating these changes.