Failure-to-Inhibit Theory

Failure-to-inhibit theory or hypothesis suggests that the inability of the elderly to select and suppress certain information during cognitive tasks is mainly due to their memory and attention problems.

For instance, an elderly adult is having a conversation with his grandchild but his thoughts wandered to his memories during the war when he saw a toy gun. After seeing this gun he was not to suppress these memories and continued this story while being unaware of what his grandchild was saying and asking.