LARGER NONDECLARATIVE THAN DECLARATIVE DEFICITS IN LEARNING AND MEMORY IN HUMAN AGING

This study used classical conditioning as a measure of nondeclarative learning and compared it with verbal learning as a declarative measure . Eighty participants were tested using 1 of 2 paradigms (400-ms and 7 50-ms delay) for eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC) and die Califo rnia Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Large age differences were observed in the nondeclarative EBCC task, even in the 750-ms paradigm, which is more optimal for older adults. Age differences in the nondeclarative EBCC task were larger in the 400-ms paradigm and equal in the 750-ms p aradigm to the magnitude of age differences in the declarative CVLT ta sk. Partial correlations (removing the variance that was due to age) s howed no relation between performance on the nondeclarative and declar ative tasks. The results contradict the common assumption that, in the same participants, nondeclarative learning and memory are more resist ant to the effects of aging than are declarative learning and memory a nd suggest that nondeclarative learning and memory are not unitary.