Exploring the impact of healthy aging on temporal duration sequence memory

Poster Session B - Sunday, April 14, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Haoyu Allen Zhang^1,2, Guilan Zhao², Xintong Yu², Sirui Wang², Pei Sun², Andy C.H. Lee¹; ¹University of Toronto, ²Tsinghua University, China

Functional MRI (fMRI) and focal lesion patient studies have suggested that the hippocampus is critical for memory for temporal duration information in the context of event sequences. Consistent with this idea, recent behavioural data have revealed that healthy older adults possess poorer temporal duration sequence memory compared to young adults, although age-related dysfunction of frontal regions may also be contributing to this impairment. To explore this, the current study used fMRI to scan young (n = 24, age range 18-30) and older (n = 15, age range 60-75) participants during a delayed-match-to-sample task in which participants compared the durations of a series of brief scene images presented at the encoding and retrieval phases of each trial. Replicating previous findings in the literature, analysis of the young adult data revealed greater hippocampal activity during the retrieval phase of match trials compared to mismatch trials. Preliminary between-group analyses revealed that older adults exhibited differential patterns of activity compared to young adults in several regions, for instance, decreased prefrontal and hippocampal activity during match trials. Our data provide novel insight into how healthy aging impacts the neural mechanisms underlying memory for temporal durations within event sequences.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Development & aging