Although advancing age affects the ability to encode information effectively, older adults remain able to remember emotionally arousing information and self-referential information better than other types of information. To date, these literatures have proceeded relatively independently, with little discussion of whether there are overlapping mechanisms that support the memory enhancements associated with emotional arousal and with self-referential processing. In fact, much research has proposed arousal-specific mechanisms or self-specific mechanisms that may support enhanced memory. The proposed research brings together two cognitive aging researchers with expertise in self-referential processing (Angela Gutchess) and emotional processing (Elizabeth Kensinger) and a quantitative psychologist with expertise in structural equation modeling and multi-level modeling (Ehri Ryu). The proposed research uses behavioral, event-related potential, and functional magnetic resonance imaging methods to test two main hypotheses. First, that there is a shared set of cognitive and neural mechanisms engaged for the encoding of self-referential information and emotional information (Aim 1). Second, that aging will preserve the recruitment of these mechanisms while disrupting many of the processes engaged during the encoding of neutral and non-self-referential information (Aim 2). By bringing together two domains of cognitive aging research that have traditionally proceeded independently, the proposed research is likely to shed new light on socioemotional processing and memory systems across the adult lifespan. Moreover, by focusing on areas of relatively preserved memory function with aging, the proposed research has the potential to elucidate the types of mechanisms that can be harnessed to maximally improve memory performance across the adult lifespan.
By addressing core questions with regard to the processes that enhance memory for emotional and for self-referential information, the proposed research will provide insight into how memory operates in everyday life contexts. By examining these memory processes in young and older adults, the propsed research is likely to shed light on the types of processes that can be harnessed to lead to maximal learning across the adult lifespan.
