The Comparison of Episodic and Semantic Memory From Youth to Elderly

The aim of this study was to compare episodic and semantic memory in adults with different ages from young to beginning of old age. The numbers of participants were 300 that were chosen by convenience sampling method and their ages were ranked: 20-25, 30-35, 40-45, 50-55, 60-65 ages. The participants completed the prospective memory, face and name recognition, free recall of actions and sentences to investigate episodic memory and letter verbal fluency in order to investigate the semantic memory. The results showed significant difference between different age groups 50-55, 60-65 in term of episodic memory when compared to other ages 20-25, 30-35, and 40-45; whereas in 50-55 and 60-65 age groups there was no significant difference. The comparison among ages in terms of semantic memory showed that after controlling their education level there was no significant difference among age groups. Findings revealed that by increasing of age after 45-50 the performance in episodic memory becomes weaker, whereas the increase of age doesnt affect semantic memory performance.