ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews different methodologies that have been used to measure age-related decline in human episodic memory with a specific focus on the challenge of measuring different aspects of memory, including the timing of memory processes. Studies reporting measures of fidelity and response bias often show that older adults are more conservative in their willingness to report a memory than young adults, even when fidelity of memories are similar between the groups. Response bias can differ for different types of memoranda, different people, and different circumstances. The worsening of working memory functions as a result of normal aging is important because it indicates that declines in other functions might not be selective but rather an indirect consequence of poor working memory. The chapter reviews the diffusion model, which is one of the most common methods for jointly analyzing accuracy and speed.
