Lifetime of knowledge can clutter memories of older adults

It is a sad fact of life that as we age many of us have difficulties retrieving memories. But now researchers think they know why -- it's because older people's brains allocate more space to knowledge built up over the years, meaning there is more material to navigate when trying to access memories. The study found that the older we get the more difficulty we have suppressing information that is no longer relevant. It means that when searching for a specific memory, older people often retrieve other, irrelevant memories along with it. It is a sad fact of life that as we age many of us have difficult retrieving memories.