Memory plays a critical role in how individuals perceive time. As noted in Chapter 8, memory not only assists in anchoring temporal experiences but also influences the accuracy of time judgments. With aging, changes in both episodic and working memory can further complicate temporal processing.
Older adults often encounter difficulties with episodic memory, which is the type of memory that allows individuals to recall specific events and their associated temporal contexts. This decline may hinder their ability to contextualize temporal experiences, thus affecting their overall perception of time.
Conversely, older adults often exhibit a relative preservation of semantic memory, which might influence the strategies they employ for temporal judgments. For instance, while they may struggle to recall specific instances, drawing upon general knowledge of time-related constructs can sometimes aid in their temporal assessments. Bremer et al. (2020) discovered that older adults might use different cognitive strategies than younger individuals when tasked with time estimation, possibly employing heuristics that are less effective.
