RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NORMAL AGING, FRONTAL-LOBE FUNCTION, AND MEMORYFOR TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL INFORMATION

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.