Why does memory fail in mature people?

It is a well recognised phenomenon that as you age the likelihood increases of having moments where memory fails you. We even have a name for it in common parlance: we call it a “senior moment”. In a new study, researchers have studied mature memory and believe they know why those moments of lapse occur, and it’s not all bad news.

The new study involved older adults aged 60 years and over as well as university students. For the study, all of the subjects were shown a series of pictures of everyday objects while EEG sensors were attached to their heads to measure brain activity. Each picture was also accompanied by a colour and a scene (such as a lounge room in a house). The subjects were told to focus on one and ignore the other. Then, an hour later they were asked if the object was old or new and if it matched the colour and the scene.

The brains of mature people spent much more time and effort in trying to reconstruct their memories.

The results showed that neither age group was particularly good at recalling what they had been told to ignore while they both did well at recalling what they had been asked to. When questioned about how sure they were, however, the mature people were more likely to back off their answers. But there were major differences in brain activity.

The brains of mature people spent much more time and effort in trying to reconstruct their memories. When trying to remember, the mature brains would spend more time going back and would try to recall more details of what had happened earlier. The younger brains, however, would use less brain power and were quicker to recall details as they focus on less irrelevant information because they never stored it in the first place.

So mature brains have momentary lapses of recall because they are sorting through the clutter of noticing too much. It means mature minds will have less efficient memories … but is that because they are taking more in of the world, sucking deeper on the marrow of life?