Recollective experience, normal aging, and frontal dysfunction.

Examined the nature of verbal recognition memory in young and old Ss. Following presentation of a word list, Ss undertook a yes–no recognition test and indicated whether their decision was based on explicit recollection or assessment of familiarity. Explicit recollection declined with age, and familiarity-based recognition increased. Furthermore, the extent to which older Ss relied on familiarity-based recognition correlated with neuropsychological indices of frontal lobe dysfunction. A further experiment indicated that the change from explicit recollection to familiarity-based responding was unrelated to changes in older Ss' confidence about their memory. The data indicate the central role of frontal dysfunction in understanding age-related memory loss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)