Over the years, a large body of literature has shown that humans display losses in memory with age, but that not all types of memory are affected equally. Similarly, recent evidence from functional neuroimaging experiments has revealed that, depending on the task, older adults can display greater or lesser activity in task-relevant brain areas compared with younger adults. Recent behavioral and neurophysiological experiments are furthering our understanding of the effects of aging on cognition. It appears that some brain changes seen with age may be compensatory.