Aging, Subjective Experience, and Cognitive Control: Dramatic False Remembering by Older Adults.

Abstract

Recent research suggests that older adults are more susceptible to interference effects than are young adults; however, that research has failed to equate differences in original learning. In 4 experiments, the authors show that older adults are more susceptible to interference effects produced by a misleading prime. Even when original learning was equated, older adults were 10 times as likely to falsely remember misleading information and were much less likely to increase their accuracy by opting not to answer under conditions of free responding. The results are well described by a multinomial model that postulates multiple modes of cognitive control. According to that model, older adults are likely to be captured by misleading information, a form of goal neglect or deficit in inhibitory functions.

Alexithymia impairs the cognitive control of negative material while facilitating the recall of neutral material in both younger and older adults

“…Additionally, advanced age appears to assist forgetting of unwanted negative items (though not significantly) while it hinders the ability to retrieve wanted negatively valenced items. While these results appear to contradict directed forgetting research demonstrating the inability of older adults to forget TBF items (e.g., Dywan & Murphy, 1996;Hasher et al, 1999;Jacoby et al, 2005;Zacks et al, 1996), they support copious amounts of research demonstrating a "positivity effect" in older adults (e.g., Charles et al, 2003;Mather & Carstensen, 2005;Mather & Knight, 2005). As such, it is possible that the results of Experiment 1 are due purely to the valence of our material.…”

“…memories (Dywan & Murphy, 1996;Hasher et al, 1999;Jacoby et al, 2005;Zacks et al, 1996;but see Castel, Farb, & Craik, 2007;Sahakyan et al, 2008). Alternatively, in terms of negative material, recent researchers have found what they term, a "positivity effect" (Charles et al, 2003;Mather & Carstensen, 2005;): older adults are better able to control and forget negative material, thereby facilitating emotional well-being (see also Castel et al, 2007).…”

“…First, we wanted to examine whether alexithymia scores influence the ability of adults to accurately recall negative TBR and inhibit negative TBF items. Second, we wanted to examine whether age influences the ability of individuals to inhibit unwanted, negative memories (i.e., the TBF items), as the literature is unclear about what to expect with negative material; on the one hand, decreased cognitive control in advanced age might lead to an inability to inhibit negative TBF items and a decreased ability to actively recall negative TBR items (e.g., Dywan & Murphy, 1996;Hasher, Zacks, & May, 1999;Jacoby, Bishara, Hessels, & Toth, 2005;Zacks, Hasher, & Radvansky, 1996, but see Zellner & Bäuml, 2006). On the other hand, the literature examining the "positivity effect" suggests older adults should exhibit an increased ability to inhibit the recall of negative TBF intrusions and a decreased ability to actively recall negative TBR items (Charles et al, 2003;Mather & Carstensen, 2005;Mather & Knight, 2005).…”

Testing promotes eyewitness accuracy with a warning: Implications for retrieval enhanced suggestibility

“…The retrieval fluency hypothesis specifies that initial testing causes the misinformation to come to mind easily during the final test, which in turn leads subjects to prematurely terminate further recollection that is needed to recall the original target information (e.g., Jacoby, Bishara, Hessels, & Toth, 2005;Jacoby & Rhodes, 2006). To test this hypothesis, the present study examined whether subjects could be encouraged to engage in more effortful recollection and reduce inaccuracies by warning them about the veracity of the narrative.…”

The self-regulation of automatic associations and behavioral impulses.

“…One important basis for choosing a model is theoretical considerations. If a researcher is interested in an automatic process that captures attention and influences behav- 6 Recently, Jacoby and his colleagues (e.g., Jacoby, Bishara, et al, 2005) have proposed a new PD model that incorporates both early and late automatic processes. However, the model's controlled process does not distinguish between discrimination processes and suppression processes (as does the Quad model) and, as a result, the model cannot separate strength of activation from ability to overcome activation.…”