Two Compasses of Memory: Why Older Adults Confuse Sunflowers with Almonds
An older person says with confidence that the word "sunflower" was on the list, even though only "almond" was there. Both words are tied to oil, and that semantic thread was enough for the brain to fill in the memory. Memory works like a compass: one needle points to meaning, the other to the order of events. With age, one of the needles starts to outweigh the other.