Working memory problems of the elderly arise in the central processor, not the phonological loop

Declines in cognitive and communicative capacities can negatively impact quality of life for even healthy aging individuals. One such capacity involves working memory, which is modeled as consisting of a phonological loop that recovers phonological structure for storage and a central executive that processes that structure. In this study, working memory was investigated to evaluate which component is responsible for age-related declines. Two groups of listeners with good hearing participated: 20 young adults (18 to 32 years) and 25 elderly adults (60 to 80 years). Accuracy and speed of recall were measured for forward and backward digits, and for three sets of CVC words: nonrhyming nouns, rhyming nouns, and nonrhyming adjectives. Phonological awareness was also assessed. Results showed no differences in digit span, but significant age-related differences in accuracy of word recall and in speed of recall for both digits and words. Phonological awareness did not differ across groups. When speed of recall wa...