Face and word memory differences are related to patterns of right and left lateral ventricle size in healthy aging.

Discrepancy between face word memory was measured with experimental continuous recognition tests and compared with right-left asymmetry of lateral ventricle size, measured with volumetric x-ray computed tomography, in 10 young and in 10 elderly subjects. All were right-handed and healthy. Old subjects differed significantly from young subjects on face but not word memory. Old subjects had significantly larger lateral ventricles than did young subjects and more lateral ventricle asymmetry. No group trend toward disproportionate age-related enlargement of the right ventricle relative to the left was noted. In old subjects, however, lateral ventricle asymmetry correlated with face-word memory discrepancies in the expected direction, worse word than face memory being associated with disproportionate enlargement of the left lateral ventricle. These correlations were not significant in young subjects. These results suggest that the group trend toward disproportionate nonverbal/visual, as opposed to verbal, age-related memory differences is not associated with a group trend toward disproportionate enlargement of the right ventricle. Individual deviations from the normative pattern of age-related ventricle enlargement, however, are associated with different patterns of material-specific memory changes.