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What gets worse with age?

Working Memory – This is the ability to perform multiple operations at the same time

  • Like with cooking dinner: Remembering that the casserole is in the oven with 10 minutes to go, the soup broth is on the stovetop and is almost at a boil, and you are in the middle of cutting the carrots while making sure a small child is still coloring and not crawling into the cabinet under the sink. 

Source memory – This is the ability to recall where you learned a piece of information.

    • Without good source memory, it is more difficult to distinguish good information from bad information. For example, you may find yourself wondering: did I read that somewhere? Or did I hear it on TV? Or did I hear that from a friend? 

Time-based prospective memory – This is ‘remembering to remember’ in the future at a certain time.

  • In other words, the ability to remember appointments or taking medication at a specific time. 

Non-meaningful information – Examples of non-meaningful information are names, unconnected lists, or trivia.

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