Aj. Alan et al., RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NORMAL AGING, FRONTAL-LOBE FUNCTION, AND MEMORYFOR TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL INFORMATION, Neuropsychology, 9(3), 1995, pp. 304-312
Young and old participants were evaluated on tests of frontal lobe fun
ction, recognition memory, and memory for temporal and spatial informa
tion. Older participants showed significant impairments on memory for
temporal order, and this impairment was found to correlate with defici
ts on frontal lobe tests measuring spontaneous flexibility but not rea
ctive flexibility. However, spatial memory showed no evidence of an ag
e effect. An interpretation of this latter finding based on the differ
ential availability of contextual cues is ruled out because similar re
sults were obtained when spatial memory was assessed in a different co
ntext to that used during learning. The researchers concluded that mem
ory for temporal order and spatial memory are affected differentially
by age. Theoretical interpretations of this difference are discussed.