Background: Episodic memory is the most affected memory system in aging. However, memory decline is not similar in every older adult. Various cognitive reserve factors, as Openness personality trait or educational level, and cognitive resources linked to these factors, as executive control and crystallized knowledge, can predict older adults' memory performance.
Objective: This study examined the link between and the role of these variables in older adults' memory performances according to the task difficulty.
Methods: Forty participants (60-82 years old) learned 24 paired words with two encoding conditions (reading and generation) and then performed a cued recall. Their educational level was asked, and their Openness, executive control and crystallized knowledge levels were respectively measured using a personality questionnaire (Big Five), an inhibition test (Stroop) and a vocabulary test (Mill Hill).
Results: Only crystallized knowledge predicts older adults' generated words recall while Openness and executive control predict and mediate educational level effect on older adults' read words recall.
Conclusion: Openness is a reserve factor and is an essential component, along with executive control, in difficult memory tasks.
Keywords: aging; cognitive reserve; cognitive resources; episodic memory; generation effect.