Objective We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine age-¬related differences in performance on a new test assessing memory for “who, when, and where” and associations among these elements. The test was designed to assess aspects of episodic memory by simulating an everyday experience of meeting a series of different people in different places across time. Method Healthy young (ages 18¬-25), middle-aged (ages 40-55), and older adults (ages 60+) were asked to remember a sequence of pictures of different faces paired with different places. After viewing the sequence, the participants were asked to pair each face with the correct place and put the face-place pairs in the correct sequence. Participants also completed a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests. Results Young adults remembered significantly more face-place pairs in the correct sequence than middle-aged (p < .05) and older adults (p < .05). There were no significant differences between middle-aged and older adults in the number of face-place pairs in correct sequence. Furthermore, young adults remembered significantly more face-place pairs irrespective of sequence than older adults (p < .05). There were no significant differences between young and middle-aged adults or between middle-aged and older adults in the number of correct face-place pairs irrespective of sequence. Conclusions Using a new test that incorporates aspects of episodic memory, we found evidence for age-related differences in test performance beginning in middle age. We found that performance on the test correlated with performance on standardized measures of verbal memory and executive functioning but not visual confrontation naming.

Objective Executive functioning is a cognitive domain that typically declines with normal aging. Age-related disrupted connectivity in cingulo-opercular (CON) and frontoparietal control (FPCN) resting-state networks is associated with worse performance across various executive functioning tasks. This study examines the relationships between CON and FPCN connectivity and executive functioning performance in older adults across three subdomains: working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting. Methods 274 healthy older adults (age M = 71.7, SD = 5.1; 87% Caucasian) from a clinical trial at the University of Florida and University of Arizona completed tasks of working memory (Digit Span Backwards [DSB]; Letter Number Sequencing [LNS]), inhibition (Stroop), and set-shifting (Trail Making Test Part B [TMT-B]). Participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. CONN Toolbox (18b) was used for extracting average within-network connectivity of CON and FPCN. Multiple linear regressions were conducted with average network connectivity predicting performance, controlling for age, sex, education, and scanner. Results Greater average CON connectivity was associated with better performance on DSB (β = 0.26, p &lt; 0.001), LNS (β = 0.23, p &lt; 0.001), Stroop (β = 0.24, p &lt; 0.001), and TMT-B (β = −0.26, p &lt; 0.001). Greater average FPCN connectivity was associated with better performance on DSB (β = 0.22, p &lt; 0.001) and LNS (β = 0.18, p = 0.002). Conclusions CON connectivity was significantly associated with working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting. FPCN connectivity was significantly associated with working memory. Future research should conduct regional connectivity analyses within these networks to identify intervention targets to improve executive functioning in older adults.

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