title: How age affects memory task performance in clinically normal hearing persons.
abstract: The main objective of this study is to investigate memory task performance in different age groups, irrespective of hearing status. Data are collected on a short-term memory task (WAIS-III Digit Span forward) and two working memory tasks (WAIS-III Digit Span backward and the Reading Span Test). The tasks are administered to young (20-30 years, n = 56), middle-aged (50-60 years, n = 47), and older participants (70-80 years, n = 16) with normal hearing thresholds. All participants have passed a cognitive screening task (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)). Young participants perform significantly better than middle-aged participants, while middle-aged and older participants perform similarly on the three memory tasks. Our data show that older clinically normal hearing persons perform equally well on the memory tasks as middle-aged persons. However, even under optimal conditions of preserved sensory processing, changes in memory performance occur. Based on our data, these changes set in before middle age.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neurosciences, Research Group Experimental Oto-rhino-laryngology , KU Leuven - University of Leuven , Leuven , Belgium.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vercammen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neurosciences, Research Group Experimental Oto-rhino-laryngology , KU Leuven - University of Leuven , Leuven , Belgium.
authors.forename: Tine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neurosciences, Research Group Experimental Oto-rhino-laryngology , KU Leuven - University of Leuven , Leuven , Belgium.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wouters
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neurosciences, Research Group Experimental Oto-rhino-laryngology , KU Leuven - University of Leuven , Leuven , Belgium.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Wieringen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D006309:Hearing; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; cognition; memory tasks; normal hearing; peripheral hearing status