The elderly may have trouble remembering because they store events ‘messy’ in their memories, American researchers say.

‘Old and wise’ is a nice catchphrase – but sometimes ‘old and muddled’ seems more appropriate. Numerous studies have shown that older people often have more difficulty recalling a specific memory. And that’s because of the way older people store memories, psychologists say Tarek America from Columbia University in New York and two colleagues in the scientific journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences†

Messy or enriched?

Amer and his team came to that conclusion after sifting through a mountain of brain scan and behavioral studies. Based on this, they state: because the elderly generally have more difficulty keeping their attention on something, they unintentionally store more information than is necessary. Information that is outdated, for example, or previously acquired knowledge that has been inadvertently recalled, or irrelevant information from the environment. This leads to ‘messy’ memories, from which the desired information is more difficult to retrieve.

That mainly sounds like a disadvantage, but there can also be advantages, the researchers write. All that extra stored information could come in handy at certain times. When making the right decision, for example, or when solving problems creatively. For that matter, she would write, would you have those messy memories too enriched name memories.

‘Plausible explanation’

André Aleman, professor of cognitive neuropsychiatry at the University Medical Center Groningen, is enthusiastic about the article. “I think it’s a plausible explanation for problems that older people can experience with their memory. The authors also substantiate their argument with good references to experimental research.”

Aleman also makes a link to people with ADHD. “They are also less able to focus and therefore take more irrelevant information with them, but they are often more creative.”