title: Inter- and intraindividual variability in recognition memory: effects of aging and estrogen use.
abstract: Traditionally, studies of cognitive aging have focused on comparing the average performance of younger and older adults, whereas variability around the mean has been attributed to task-irrelevant noise. The present study examined the hypothesis that variability in memory performance increases with age and that estrogen helps temper age-related increases in variability. Postmenopausal estrogen users, estrogen and progestin (est + prog) users, and nonusers, as well as younger women, completed 16 blocks of an item-source memory task. Older women showed greater variability than younger women on measures of dispersion and consistency. Estrogen users, but not est + prog users, performed more consistently than nonusers. Overall, age-related increases in variability differed with the type of variability measured, and estrogen use, but not est + prog use, appeared to reduce age-related increases in at least 1 form of variability.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and Taub Institute on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. wegesin@sergievsky.cpmc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Domonick J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wegesin
authors.forename: Yaakov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Stern
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003710:Demography; D004347:Drug Interactions; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D004967:Estrogens / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology; D011372:Progestins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012923:Social Class; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D011372:Progestins