Adult Age Differences in Long-term Memory for Performed Activities

Abstract

Participants in two studies conducted by Salthouse (in press) were called 2 to 182 days after participation and asked to describe the activities that they had performed in the previous study. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the prediction of activity recall from age, speed, and retention interval. Overall, age was associated with 20% of the variance in activity recall, and retention interval was associated with 19%, but there was no significant interaction of age and retention interval. When perceptual speed was entered into the regression equation before age, the age-related variance was reduced by 70%. A small, but statistically significant, amount of age-related variance in activity memory remained after controlling for speed and retention interval.

Processing Speed and Adult Age Differences in Activity Memory

“…As was found in Earles and Coon (1994), a signi cant portion of the age diVerences in delayed activity memory was not associated with perceptual speed. In contrast, perceptual speed was associated with 91% of the age-related variance in immediate activity memory.…”

“…This study, in addition to those of Earles (1996) and Earles and Coon (1994), provides evidence that the efficiency with which one processes information is important to age diVerences in activity memory. As has been found for memory of other types of items (e.g., Earles, 1996 ;Park et al, 1996 ;Salthouse, 1994Salthouse, , 1996, control of perceptual speed greatly reduced the age-related variance in memory performance.…”

“…Two studies of the relation between processing speed and age diV erences in activity memory have been conducted (Earles, 1996 ;Earles & Coon, 1994). Earles and Coon (1994) conducted phone interviews of adults aged 18 to 87 who had participated in a previous study in which they performed a series of cognitive activities.…”

“…Earles and Coon (1994) conducted phone interviews of adults aged 18 to 87 who had participated in a previous study in which they performed a series of cognitive activities. The participants were called 2 to 182 days after their performance of the activities and were asked to describe the activities.…”

Influences of Age, Performance, and Item Relatedness on Verbatim and Gist Recall of Verb-Noun Pairs

“…Most studies. however, have indicated that younger adults have better memory for performed actions than do older adults (e.g., Earles, 1996;Earles & Coon, 1994;Earles & Kersten, 1998;Kausler & Hakami, 1983).…”