Source memory has been found to be more affected by aging than item memory,
possibly because of declining frontal function among older adults. In 4 ex
periments, the authors explored the role of the frontal lobes (FLs) in sour
ce memory, the extent to which they may be involved in the encoding and/or
retrieval of source or context, and the conditions under which the source m
emory deficit in older people may be reduced or eliminated. Results indicat
ed that only a subset of older adults show deficits in source memory, namel
y those with below average frontal function, and these deficits can be elim
inated by requiring people at study to consider the relation between an ite
m and its context. These results provide convincing evidence of the importa
nce of frontal function during the encoding of source and suggest that olde
r adults with reduced FL function fail to initiate the processes required t
o integrate contextual information with focal content during study.