Researchers cannot agree on why our memory declines as the years pass.
Some argue that such deterioration is wired into the nervous system, while
others say the popular belief that our faculties will decline leads to poor
memory.

Becca Levy and Ellen Langer of Harvard University believe memory loss
occurs because of ‘negative stereotypes’ in old age – the expectation that
the old lose their memory (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
vol 66, p 989).

To test this idea, the two psychologists conducted research on memory
and attitude towards ageing in two groups: Americans who are deaf and people
from mainland China. These groups are less likely than most Americans to
have been exposed to negative cultural stereotypes of ageing. The deaf community
in the US is pretty independent of mainstream American culture, while in
China old people are held in high esteem.

Levy and Langer compared their subjects with a group of Americans who
could hear. They found that both the older deaf Americans and older Chinese
outperformed the older members of the control group. Among younger subjects
in the three groups there was no difference. Also, younger hearing Americans
held more negative views of ageing than the other groups. Among the older
participants, those with more positive attitudes to ageing had better memories.

The older Chinese performed so well on the tests that they did not differ
significantly from the young Chinese, suggesting that the influence of cultural
attitudes on memory may be even stronger than expected.

Lawrence Palinkas of the University of California, San Diego, carried
out a study of 358 enlisted US Navy personnel who between 1964 and 1974
had spent at least one winter in Antarctica. He checked the hospital admissions
of the personnel over the 15 years following their incarceration on the
coldest continent.

Palinkas found that people who had survived the discomfort and loneliness
of Antarctic stations later needed fewer hospitalisations than members of
a control group, who were considered medically and psychologically qualified
for such duty but were assigned to less harsh environments. Later, they
even suffered less from the notorious ‘winter-over syndrome’, the symptoms
of which include depression, irritability and hostility (Environment and
Behavior, vol 23, p782).

Palinkas concludes that the stressful nature of the physical and social
environment in Antarctica may test people’s competence and enhance their
self-esteem. The greater the test, the greater the benefits, he says.

Carol Holland of the University of Leeds and Patrick Rabbit of the University
of Manchester believe elderly people who have lost their independence simply
prefer to talk about early experiences, because their present lives are
relatively uneventful (Psychology, vol 82, p 29).

The psychologists compared how two groups of elderly volunteers of equivalent
age and general intelligence recalled events in their lives. Members of
one group lived in residential care, while the others led independent lives.

Holland and Rabbit found that people in residential care recalled more
memories from their early lives than from their recent lives. They found
the opposite in the independent elderly.

The psychologists suggest that the people in care spend more time rehearsing
earlier events. The ‘independent’ group reported rehearsing early memories
less often than recent memories. In contrast, people in residential care
generally rehearsed early memories more often.

The study reminds us that, in trying to understand ageing memory, it
is not the sort of things that are remembered that is important, but why
they are remembered. In residential care homes, reminiscence is actively
encouraged by the staff and enjoyed by the residents. It, therefore, serves
a more useful function to them than to independent individuals.

Cohen carried out experiments in which she showed people photographs
of unfamiliar faces. She then asked them to learn three pieces of information
linked with each face: a name, an occupation, and a possession.

Cohen then manipulated the meaningfulness of names and of other personal
information. For instance, sometimes she linked a meaningless non-word with
a person (for example, ‘This man is called Mr Collins; he is a teacher;
he has a wesp’). When she did this, her subjects found it easy to recall
the person’s occupation; but they were no better at recalling their names
than they were at recalling the non-words.

When there was conflict between a surname and an occupation (for example,
‘Mr Baker, who was a lawyer’), memory for the name Baker was poorer than
memory for the occupation lawyer. Sometimes, subjects saw a link between
a face and an occupation (for example, ‘He looks just like a postman’) or
between a face and a possession. ‘He looks like someone who’d have a dog’).

According to Cohen, such remarks indicate mental stereotypes that link
facial features with relevant occupations or possessions. Because surnames
typically have no such links, they are hard for people to recall, she says.