Effects of aging on event-related neural activity related to prospective memory.

The neural foundation of age-related declines in prospective memory was explored using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Consistent with previous research, a decline in the efficiency of prospective memory was observed in older adults that reflected a decrease in veridical prospective responses and an increase in false prospective responses. The neurophysiological data revealed an age-related reduction in the amplitude of modulations of the ERPs related to prospective remembering, but not visual information processing, and are consistent with the hypothesis that a reduction in the efficiency of a frontally mediated neural system contributes to prospective memory failure in older adults.