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Age-related Differences in Familiarity and Recollection-Based Memory: Cognitive Patterns and Neural Mechanisms Across the Lifespan

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

HAORAN GUAN¹ (), Darya Frank, Dan Cox, Daniela Montaldi; ¹University of Manchester, ²Andrew Mayes Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Manchester, UK

Recognition can be supported by recollection, familiarity, or both. Recollection, which involves recalling the study context declines as we age, while familiarity is relatively spared across the lifespan. The neural mechanisms underlying this age-related dissociation remain unclear. Evidence highlights hemispheric specialisation for memory content within the inferior parietal lobes, suggesting that age-related memory may be supported by a reorganization of brain lateralization emerging in midlife. A cohort of 78 cognitively healthy participants (aged 25-70, median = 55) completed three experimental tests: Familiarity-Only Rating Task (FORT), isolating familiarity with no emphasis on recollection; and two forced-choice recognition tests, one corresponding and one non-corresponding, using highly similar foils, predominantly engaging familiarity and recollection, respectively for face, scene, object, and word information. Participants completed standardized neuropsychological assessments of general memory function and underwent high-resolution T1-weighted and diffusion MRI. Voxel-based analysis of diffusion weighted maps revealed brain regions associated with recognition memory across the adult lifespan, including the right mediodorsal thalamus for familiarity, and the left fusiform gyrus and right caudate nucleus for recollection. Importantly, the integrity of right-lateralised fusiform, as indexed by radial diffusivity, specifically supported familiarity performance for scenes, objects and words in middle-aged adults. Furthermore, the efficient processing of semantically rich materials (e.g., objects and words) moderated the relationship between derived cortical volume patterns and general memory ability, suggesting that semantic processing efficiency may act as a cognitive reserve against age-related memory decline. These findings highlight distinct age-dependent neural mechanisms and suggest compensatory reorganization helps sustain recognition performance in later adulthood.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic