Verbal free recall and working memory in the elderly

Abstract

Studies have shown an association between aging and memory difficulties, causing considerable loss of explicit memory. The objective of the present study is to verify age related loss of explicit memory and working memory when compared to young adults. Both groups accomplished tests that evaluated working memory capacity, processing speed and free recall word. Performance of the elderly group was significantly smaller in two working memory tests and also speed of information process in the for process explicit memory The results suggest that other factors, combined or not with working memory and processing speed, to fully explain the memory loss in the elderly, may be the associational difficulties found by other authors in senior with advancing age.