title: Age differences in self-referencing: Evidence for common and distinct encoding strategies.
abstract: Although engagement of medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) underlies self-referencing of information for younger and older adults, the region has not consistently been implicated across age groups for the encoding of self-referenced information. We sought to determine whether making judgments about others as well as the self influenced findings in the previous study. During an fMRI session, younger and older adults encoded adjectives using only a self-reference task. For items later remembered compared to those later forgotten, both age groups robustly recruited medial prefrontal cortex, indicating common neural regions support encoding across younger and older adults when participants make only self-reference judgments. Focal age differences emerged in regions related to emotional processing and cognitive control, though these differences are more limited than in tasks in which judgments also are made about others. We conclude that making judgments about another person differently affects the ways that younger and older adults make judgments about the self, with results of a follow-up behavioral study supporting this interpretation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Memory and Aging.
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA; Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA. Electronic address: gutchess@brandeis.edu.
authors.forename: Angela H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Gutchess
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sokal
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gotthilf
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grewal
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rosa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007600:Judgment; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: aging; fMRI; memory; self