Retrieval-induced forgetting in old and very old age.

Selectively retrieving a subset of previously studied information can cause forgetting of related, nonretrieved information. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) has typically been attributed to inhibitory control processes. Examining participants with a mean age of about 70 years, previous work reported intact RIF in older adults, suggesting efficient inhibition in older adults' episodic memory. We replicated the prior work by finding reliable RIF in young-old participants (60-75 years), but additionally found RIF to decline with increasing age and to be inefficient in old-old participants (above 75 years). The results support the proposal of an inhibitory deficit in (very) old age.