28th International Congress of Psychology August 8 ... - U-netSURF

quite different, with prefrontal and hippocampal activation for remembered faces in both age
groups. The results suggest an age-related shift in the neural underpinnings of emotional
processing (subcortical to cortical), and are discussed relative to current theories of life-span
changes in emotional regulation.
3012.3 Neurocomputational inquiries of memory aging and neuromodulation, S.C. Li, U.
Lindenberger, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
Memory aging cuts across neural, information-processing, and behavioral levels. Age-related
deficits are particularly notable regarding episodic and working memory. Neurochemically, the
efficacy of transmitter systems declines with aging. Neurocomputational theories (e.g., Braver et
al., 2001; Li, Lindenberger, & Sikström, 2001) are instrumental in developing cross-level
conceptions of memory aging. A theoretical link is highlighted, relating deficient dopaminergic
modulation with increase neuronal noise, which may results in less distinctive stimulus
representations, and, by implication, less efficient distributed conjunctive signal coding. These less
distinctive representations may underlie aging-related working memory and associative deficits, as
well as increased fluctuations in memory performance.
3012.4 Episodic memory in old age and associations with executive function and physical
condition, D. Bunce, University of London, London, UK
The study of neuropsychological and physiological variables in relation to age and episodic
memory can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underpinning memory deficits in old
age. The present study investigated executive function and objective measures of physical
condition in relation to word recall and recognition in a sample of adults aged 65 years and over.
Theoretically, the findings suggest that although neuropsychological and physiologically-based
measures offer much to the understanding of memory deficits in old age, empirically, the cognitive
demands associated with the memory task may play an important role in identifying associations
where they exist.
3012.5 Aging and name retrieval: A disproportional impairment? F. Craik 1 , P. Rendell 2 , A.
Castel 3 , 1 Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2 Australian Catholic
University, Oakleigh, Australia; 3 University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
We report an experiment in which younger and older adults attempted to name pictures of public
figures and pictures of uncommon objects. In subsequent phases they first matched the pictures
with provided names and then rated correct picture-name pairs for familiarity. Older adults were
less able than younger adults to name people that they knew, as determined by the later phases, but
there was no comparable effect for objects. Further analysis revealed a strong relationship between
the ratio correctly named / correctly matched and rated familiarity. The question of a
disproportional impairment is discussed in light of these findings.
3013 INVITED SYMPOSIUM
Developing action sequences: Comparative studies of adult scaffolding
Convener and Chair: B. Bril, France
Co-convener: P. Zukow-Goldring, USA
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