O<\/span>ne of the common beliefs about getting older is that we\u2019ll lose our memory. This belief is so pervasive and so scary that we often panic and assume that as soon as we forget something, it\u2019s just a downward spiral into dementia. This is unlikely to be the case.<\/p>\n In fact, we can fail to remember things at all different ages, not just in our senior years, and these failures are nothing more than a function of how our memory systems work—they are not failing.<\/p>\n For example, one common memory failure is a word-retrieval failure. You may know this as a tip-of-the-tongue (scientists refer to these as TOTs). A TOT is that experience where you are trying to think of a word. You know you know it, but you are stuck and can\u2019t think of it.<\/p>\n Sometimes, you know how you want to use it, you know that it\u2019s a noun or a verb, you know what letter it starts with or how many syllables it has, and you may even know an alternative word that isn\u2019t the one you are trying to think of. But the word just won\u2019t come.<\/p>\n In most instances, however, people resolve this TOT in less than two minutes. In others, though, it could take hours or days. For those that take longer to resolve, it is possible that it is for information that has fewer or less frequently used connections in our mind- proper nouns, words we haven\u2019t used in a while, and things of that sort. It is not a reflection of an unhealthy brain but rather a typically developing one (and yes, we develop throughout our lives, not just in our early years).<\/p>\n Concerning the aging brain, we know that a TOT is more likely to occur, but not because of anything negative. In fact, one of these reasons is quite positive: an older adult knows more words.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n The larger the vocabulary, the more likely you will have difficulty pulling any of these words from memory. And, while we also see an overall, small weakening in memory retrieval and connections over time, we should not mistake this for deficiencies resulting from illness like dementia. Instead, this slight weakening is more likely just to make things a bit slower to be remembered and really has no negative impact on daily functioning. This is so positive for our expectations of an aging experience.<\/p>\n Other memory failures may include difficulties in prospective memory or source memory. These types of memory can be impacted by age and other non-age-related factors, including a busy lifestyle, attention deficits or distractions, or even disorganization.<\/p>\n Prospective is memory to do something later. So, when you need to remember to stop at the grocery store to get milk on your way home but forget- that\u2019s a failure of prospective memory. Failures of this type happen in older adults\u2026 but also in adults who lead busy lives. These are not negative but a function of a normal, healthy memory system. We can\u2019t think of everything all at once. At some point, something will get lost in the shuffle. Getting milk on the way home is easy to forget because we don\u2019t have the cue readily available to prompt us to remember. It isn\u2019t an age issue but rather an attentional one. The fix? Sticky notes. Phone reminders. Easy peasy.<\/p>\n Alternatively, source memory is memory for the source of the information. That\u2019s to say- remembering where it came from.<\/p>\n Where did you learn that Newfoundland dogs are supreme water rescuers? Was the image you have in your mind from a movie or something you saw in real life? In most instances, the source of the information is not important, so it\u2019s not vital that we remember it.<\/p>\n I mean, why would you need to know where you learned that a dog could save your life as long as you know it? And in most instances, like prospective memory, difficulties also come with a busy life or issues with attention. Most of the time, it\u2019s a non-issue.<\/p>\n However, this can come into play when we ask: do you remember that you took your medication because you did it or because you thought about doing it? Compensating for something like this would be helpful— but again, helpful for anyone at any age. Using a pill organizer can help here. There is no need to rely on source memory; we can just check a box to see if the medication is in there.<\/p>\n So the next time you think that forgetting a word that you haven\u2019t used in 10 years or not getting the thing you went to the grocery store for is a sign of dementia, stop and take a breath. The more likely story is that you just haven\u2019t used it, you don\u2019t have a cue available to remind you, or the information isn\u2019t that important anyway. It\u2019s in there; you just need a moment or a reminder to help dig it out.<\/p>\n Reassuring information about memory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2025","category-winter-2025-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15662"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15937,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15662\/revisions\/15937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Sara J. Margolin, PhD is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, Philosophy, and Neuroscience at the State University of New York at Brockport. Her expertise is in cognitive aging, and she is the author of Psychology of Aging: A Concise Exploration<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"