title: Selective decline in memory function among healthy elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use longitudinally acquired data to establish whether aging is associated with memory decline.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Memory loss is one of the most frequent complaints among the elderly. Nevertheless, age-related memory decline remains controversial in large part because it has been established with cross-sectional studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 212 community-based healthy people were followed prospectively and evaluated annually with a neuropsychological battery testing memory and other cognitive domains. To control for the learning effect-the improvement in test performance associated with repeated exposure-longitudinal performance was compared between two age groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The older age group displayed a relative decline in memory performance with time. In contrast to memory, a relative age-related decline was not observed in tests of language, visuospatial ability, and abstract reasoning. Furthermore, within the memory domain, age-related decline was restricted to a specific aspect of memory, manifesting only in a measure sensitive to the acquisition and early retrieval of new information, and not in a measure of memory retention. This profile of age-related cognitive decline anatomically localizes to the hippocampal formation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study establishes age-related memory decline using longitudinal data, and shows that this decline does not occur diffusely across multiple cognitive domains. Both early AD as well as non-AD processes likely contribute to age-related memory decline, and continued follow-up may reveal distinguishing features between these two.
authors.affiliation: Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Department of Neurology, Taub Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research in the City of New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Small
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayeux
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis