Aging mind and brain: is implicit learning spared in healthy aging?

Abstract

It is often held that although explicit learning declines in the course of normal aging, implicit learning is relatively preserved. Here we summarize research from our group which leads us to argue that some forms of implicit learning do decline with adult age. In particular, we propose that there are age-related declines in implicit learning of probabilistic sequential relationships that occur across the adult lifespan, and that they reflect, at least in part, age-related striatal dysfunction. We first review behavioral evidence supporting this age-related decline and then evidence from patient groups, genetics, and neuroimaging supporting this striatal dysfunction hypothesis.

Keywords: aging; cognition; cognitive neuroscience; implicit learning; striatal dysfunction.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of (A) the Alternating Serial Reaction Time Task (ASRT) and (B) The Triplets Learning Task (TLT).