Individual differences in 16-year memory changes

The authors analyzed the role of individual differences in age, gender, and 16-year declines in reasoning and vocabulary as predictors of 16-year changes in text and list recall and recognition in 82 adults aged 55-81 years at baseline. Declines in reasoning as well as being older at baseline predicted declines in text recall. Male gender and declining in vocabulary predicted declines in list recall. There were no reliable predictors of declines in recognition. The findings suggest that changes in abilities, as well as age and gender, predict declines on memory tasks. However, the specific predictors varied across tasks.