Author:
Abdulkhaleq A. Al-Qahtani
Affiliation:
King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia
Keyword(s):
memory, learning, aging
Abstract:
This paper presents an overview of the memory system and how it’s affected by age. The paper divides the memory system into its constituent parts sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Each type of memory is also explained and divided into their sub-memories; for the sensory memory, there are three types the iconic memory for visual stimuli, echoic memory for aural stimuli and haptic memory for touch; for the long-term memory, there are procedural and declarative memories. Then, after each memory type, the paper presents information found in the literature as how some aspects of memory are influenced by aging. The conclusions are as follows: memory is not affected by age as a whole system, what are affected are certain functions of memory subcategories. For example, little evidence was found that semantic memories and procedural memories are affected by age, while episodic memory is affected. In addition, encoding and retrieving information from and to the lo
ng-term memory are found to be influenced. The paper concludes with an assertion that most if not all age-related deficiencies could be overcome.
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