Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Memory for verbal and spatial information as a function of age

J M Schear, R D Nebes

    Experimental Aging Research
    |June 1, 1980
    PubMed
    Summary

    This study found no evidence that spatial memory declines more than verbal memory with age. Elderly adults showed similar memory decrements for both verbal and spatial tasks compared to younger adults.

    Related Concept Videos

    You might also read

    Related Articles

    Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

    Sort by
    Same author

    Serum anticholinergic activity, white matter hyperintensities, and cognitive performance.

    Neurology·2005
    Same author

    Hypothyroidism and cognition: preliminary evidence for a specific defect in memory.

    Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association·2002
    Same author

    The relation of White Matter Hyperintensities to implicit learning in healthy older adults.

    International journal of geriatric psychiatry·2002
    Same author

    Dual-task performance in depressed geriatric patients.

    Psychiatry research·2001
    Same author

    Relationship of deep white matter hyperintensities and apolipoprotein E genotype to depressive symptoms in older adults without clinical depression.

    The American journal of psychiatry·2001
    Same author

    Complementary category learning systems identified using event-related functional MRI.

    Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2001

    Area of Science:

    • Cognitive Psychology
    • Neuroscience
    • Human Aging Research

    Background:

    • Age-related cognitive decline is a significant area of research.
    • Previous studies suggest potential differences in the decline of various memory types.
    • Understanding the trajectory of verbal versus spatial memory decline is crucial for cognitive health assessments.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate if there is a differential decline with age in verbal memory compared to spatial memory.
    • To compare the memory performance of young and elderly adults on identical verbal and spatial tasks.
    • To assess the encoding and retention of verbal and spatial information across different age groups.

    Main Methods:

    • Recruited 24 young (mean age 18.8) and 24 elderly (mean age 69.5) participants.
    • Administered tasks requiring recall of verbal (letter identities) and spatial (letter locations) information from a 5x5 grid.
    • Utilized verbal and spatial interference tasks during the retention interval to probe memory encoding and independence.

    Main Results:

    • The memory decrement observed in elderly participants was comparable for both verbal and spatial aspects of the stimuli.
    • No significant evidence indicated a greater decline in spatial memory relative to verbal memory in older adults.
    • The selective interference paradigm provided limited support for distinct and independent verbal and spatial memory codes.

    Conclusions:

    • There is no evidence for a disproportionately greater decline in spatial memory compared to verbal memory with advancing age.
    • Cognitive aging affects verbal and spatial memory systems similarly in terms of performance decrement.
    • Further research is needed to fully validate the selective interference paradigm for distinguishing memory codes.

    Related Experiment Videos