Age differences in brain activity related to unsuccessful declarative memory retrieval.

ABSTRACT: Although memory recall is known to be reduced with normal aging, little is known about the patterns of brain activity that accompany these recall failures. By assessing faulty memory, we can identify the brain regions engaged during retrieval attempts in the absence of successful memory and determine the impact of aging on this functional activity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine age differences in brain activity associated with memory failure in three memory retrieval tasks: autobiographical (AM), episodic (EM) and semantic (SM). Compared to successful memory retrieval, both age groups showed more activity when they failed to recall a memory in regions consistent with the salience network (SLN), a brain network also associated with non-memory errors. Both groups a

SUBMITTER: Grady CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4898958 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature