We propose that older adults’ ability to retrieve episodic autobiographical events, although often viewed through a lens of decline, reveals much about what is preserved and prioritized in cognitive aging. Central to our proposal is the idea that the so-called gist of an autobiographical event is not only spared with normal aging but also well adapted to serve memory-guided behavior in older age. To support our proposal, we review cognitive and brain evidence indicating an age-related shift toward gist memory. We then discuss why this shift likely arises from more than age-related decline and instead partly reflects a natural, arguably adaptive, outcome of experience, motivation, and mode-of-thinking factors. Our proposal reveals an upside of age-related memory changes and identifies important research questions.

我们提出，尽管老年人经常从衰落的角度来看待事件，但他们提取偶发性自传事件的能力揭示了很多关于在认知老化中保留和优先考虑的内容。我们建议的核心是这样的想法，即自传事件的所谓要点不仅不会因正常衰老而幸免，而且还可以很好地适应老年人的记忆引导行为。为了支持我们的提议，我们回顾了认知和大脑证据，这些证据表明与年龄相关的向主旨记忆的转变。然后，我们讨论为什么这种转变可能不仅仅源于与年龄相关的衰退，而是部分反映了一种自然的、可以说是适应性的、经验、动机和思维方式因素的结果。我们的提议揭示了与年龄相关的记忆变化的好处，并确定了重要的研究问题。