How ‘brain clutter’ makes the elderly more forgetful
WE become more prone to having ‘senior moments’ as the years go on because our brains are ‘cluttered’ with irrelevant information, research has found.
The study shows older people struggle to remember important details because their brains are unable to resist irrelevant ‘stuff’ that they soak up subconsciously.
As a result, the elderly tend to be less confident in their memories.
US researchers analysed brain activity and saw that older participants wandered into a brief ‘mental time travel’ when trying to remember details.
This journey into their subconscious sent them into a cluttered space filled with both relevant and irrelevant information, the researchers found, which led to less confidence even when their recollections were correct.
Cluttering of the brain is one reason older people are susceptible to manipulation, the Georgia Institute of Technology scientists said.
Participants aged 60 and over and university students were shown a series of pictures of everyday objects while connected to EEG brain scanners. Each photo was accompanied by a colour and a scene. They were told to focus on one photo and ignore the other.
An hour later, they were asked if the object in the picture was new or old, and if it matched the colour and the scene it was accompanied by. Neither age group was very good at recalling the picture they were told to ignore and both did well remembering what they were told to focus on.
‘But when we asked if they were sure, older people backed off their answers a bit. They weren’t as sure,’ said Audrey Duarte, the associate professor of psychology who led the study, published in journal Neuropsychologia. She noticed the older people spent more time trying to reconstruct memories.
She said: ‘While trying to remember, their brains would spend more time going back in time in an attempt to piece together what was previously seen. But not just what they were focused on – some of what they were told to ignore got stuck in their minds.’
Professor Duarte uses a cocktail party as an example. Two older people are talking and even though they’re only concentrating on the conversation, their brains absorb the other noise in the room.
‘They may struggle a bit to recall some details. That’s because their brains are also trying to decipher the other noises,’ she said.
‘What music was playing? What was the couple next to them saying? That extra stuff shouldn’t be in their memories at all, but it is. And it negatively impacts their ability to clearly remember the conversation.’ Younger people were quicker to recall details and used less brain power. The irrelevant information was never stored in the first place, which kept their memories relatively clutter-free, making them more confident in their answers.
The elderly participants’ lack of confidence in their memories, Professor Duarte said, can lead to manipulation. ‘If someone tells you that you should remember it one way, you can be more easily persuaded if you lack confidence.
‘This memory clutter that’s causing low confidence could be a reason why older adults are often victims of financial scams, which typically occur when someone tries to trick them about prior conversations that didn’t take place at all.’
‘Causes low confidence’