Memories are constantly updated because surroundings are not static. One way that researchers have investigated memory updating is with "reversal learning" tasks in which participants learn as association (e.g., Mary is angry) and then update their response when contingencies change (e.g., Mary is no longer angry).
Kaoru Nasiro at the Center for Vial Longevity at the University of Texas, Dallas and colleagues from the University of Southern California, USA, examined brain activity in younger (19-35 years) and older (61-78 years) adults while they were engaged in two types of reversal learning tasks in an fMRI scanner; one involved emotion and the other did not (e.g., who is angry? vs. who wears eye-glasses?).
During emotional reversal learning, both groups showed similar activity in the amygdala, a region critical for emotional memory, and the frontopolar/orbitofrontal cortex, which updates old emotional memory. During neutral reversal learning however, older adults showed greater activity in regions that control attention than did younger adults.
The results suggest that brain mechanisms underlying emotional memory updating is little affected by age.
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/integrative_neuroscience/10.3389/fnint.2013.00037/abstract