The episodic memory and inhibition accounts of age-related increases in false memories: A consistency check

Theory suggests that age-related increase of associatively based false memories is caused by decline in episodic memory performance and inhibitory functioning. A total of 146 participants, aged 20-80, completed tasks designed to assess processing speed, inhibition, episodic memory performance, and false memory. Structural equation modeling was used to provide a consistency check between theory and empirical data. Results revealed approximately continuous age-related increases in false memories as measured with three independent paradigms and confirmed that the measures could be represented by a latent factor. The influence of inhibition was entirely mediated by episodic memory performance and individual differences in episodic memory performance could account for the age-related increase in false memories. These findings are consistent with the episodic memory accounts and an account postulating that the influence of inhibition is mediated by episodic memory.