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Neural correlates of implicit associative memory in younger and older adults

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Emily E. Davis¹ (emily.davis@utoronto.ca), Simon W. Davis², Karen L. Campbell³; ¹University of Toronto, ²Indiana University, ³Brock University

Associative memory declines with age; however, it appears that this effect is specific to explicit memory because age-effects are attenuated when associative memory is tested implicitly. This dissociation suggests that implicit associative memory may rely on neural mechanisms that are less vulnerable to age-related decline. During fMRI, 27 young and 26 old adults completed a speeded object categorization task in which they viewed objects with superimposed text. Implicit memory was tested by presenting intact (original pairs) and rearranged pairs (items previously presented, but not together) from encoding while participants did the same categorization task. The measure of neural (activation) and behavioural (reaction time) associative priming was indicated by a rearranged > intact contrast. A whole-brain analysis yielded significant clusters in regions previously related to associative priming of objects and words (left lateralized: middle and inferior occipital, fusiform, middle and inferior frontal, middle and inferior temporal) with no interaction with age. An ROI analysis showed that, on average, the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus were not sensitive to associative priming, but this effect was modulated by behavioural priming in older adults. Older adults who showed greater behavioural priming exhibited greater neural priming in the right hippocampus (p = 0.058) and parahippocampal gyrus (p = .008). There was no brain-behaviour relationship in young adults. Together, this supports that implicit associative priming is largely intact in older adults, but those who exhibit larger behavioural effects may recruit MTL structures more strongly.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Development & aging