An effect of age on implicit memory that is not due to explicit contamination: Implications for single and multiple-systems theories.

Abstract

An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Ward, Emma V. and Berry, Christopher J. and Shanks, David R. (2013) An effect of age on implicit memory that is not due to explicit contamination: implications for single and multiple-systems theories.Psychology and Aging, 28 (2 Copyright and moral rights to this thesis/research project are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Any use of the thesis/research project for private study or research must be properly acknowledged with reference to the work's full bibliographic details.This thesis/research project may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from it, or its content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s).If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address:The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. AbstractRecognition memory is typically weaker in healthy older relative to young adults, while performance on implicit tests (e.g., repetition priming) is often comparable between groups. Such observations are commonly taken as evidence for independent explicit and implicit memory systems. On a picture version of the continuous identification with recognition (CID-R) task, we found a reliable age-related reduction in recognition memory, while the age effect on priming did not reach statistical significance (Experiment 1). This pattern was consistent with the predictions of a formal single-system model. Experiment 2 replicated these observations using separate priming (CID) and recognition phases, while a combined data analysis revealed a significant effect of age on priming. In Experiment 3 we provide evidence that priming in this task is unaffected by explicit processing, and we conclude that the age difference in priming is unlikely to have been driven by differences in explicit processing between groups of young and older adults ('explicit contamination'). The results support the view that explicit and implicit expressions of memory are driven by a single underlying memory system.Keywords: aging, priming, implicit memory, recognition, explicit contamination Memory can be measured directly or indirectly. Direct or explicit tests (e.g., recognition) require deliberate recollection of specific information from a prior study episode, whereas indirect or implicit tests measure memory of previously studied information in a seemingly unrelated task (e.g., perceptual identification). Priming is a commonly used index of implicit memory. It refers to a long-term change in behavioural response to an item as a result of prior exposure to it, and usually takes ...

Regressive research: The pitfalls of post hoc data selection in the study of unconscious mental processes

“…For instance, Buchner and Wippich (2000) reported values between and 0.41 and 0.88 for explicit recognition and recall tests in memory experiments. The figures they obtained for priming tests were even lower: 0.13–0.44 (see also LeBel & Paunonen, 2011; Ward, Berry, & Shanks, 2013). …”

A benefit of context reinstatement to recognition memory in aging: the role of familiarity processes

“…It is widely believed that implicit memory is preserved in normal aging, in contrast to reduced explicit memory (reviewed in Fleischman, 2007; but see Ward, Berry, & Shanks, 2013a, 2013bWard, de Mornay Davies, & Politimou, 2015). It has been suggested that the beneficial use of context information in item recognition involves implicit processes, whereas recall/recognition of target-context associations involves explicit processes.…”

“…One possibility is that associations between targets and contexts are implicitly encoded by older individuals. It is widely believed that implicit (unconscious/automatic) memory processes are preserved with age, in contrast to a decline in explicit (conscious/effortful) memory processes (reviewed in Fleischman, 2007;Fleischman & Gabrieli, 1998;Mitchell, 1989;Ward, Berry, & Shanks, 2013b). Thus, while explicit recall or recognition of target-context pairs may require the type of elaborate and effortful memorial processing that is impaired with age, the beneficial use of contextual information in item recognition may call upon implicit processes that remain intact.…”

Age effects on explicit and implicit memory

“…There are cases in the literature in which priming in older adults is significantly reduced in comparison to that in young adults (e.g., Chiarello and Hoyer, 1988; Abbenhuis et al, 1990; Davis et al, 1990; Hultsch et al, 1991; Ward et al, 2013). Moreover, in published studies that claim to have revealed preserved priming in older individuals, performance has most often been numerically reduced in these individuals compared to the young (see Fleischman and Gabrieli, 1998).…”