Memory declines are commonly reported with age, but the majority of research has been conducted with narrow segments of the world's population. We argue for the importance of considering culture in the study of cognitive aging in order to have a representative, accurate understanding of the effects of aging on memory. Limited research thus far investigates the effects of culture on the use of categories and the self in memory with age, finding that cultural differences tend to be larger for older than younger adults. Frameworks drawing on top-down and bottom-up processes may account for when more or less cultural variation would be expected in cognitive performance. Promising future research directions include socio-emotional memory and expanding samples to address global inequities.

人们普遍认为记忆力会随着年龄的增长而下降，但大多数研究都是针对世界人口中的一小部分人进行的。我们认为在认知衰老研究中考虑文化的重要性，以便对衰老对记忆的影响有代表性、准确的理解。迄今为止，有限的研究调查了文化对类别使用和年龄记忆中的自我的影响，发现老年人的文化差异往往比年轻人更大。利用自上而下和自下而上过程的框架可以解释认知表现中何时会出现或多或少的文化差异。未来有前途的研究方向包括社会情感记忆和扩大样本以解决全球不平等问题。