High-confidence memory errors in old age: The roles of monitoring and binding processes

Abstract

Based on a two-component model of episodic memory development across the lifespan, we examined the contribution of memory monitoring and binding processes to older adults' increased susceptibility to false memories with high subjective confidence. Younger and older adults worked on a modified version of the continuous recognition task (Schnider, von Daniken, & Gutbrod, 1996). Participants saw the same set of unrelated word pairs in three subsequent runs and had to identify pairs that were repeated within runs. Age group differences in the veridical recognition of repeated word pairs across the three runs were not reliable. False recognition of lure pairs increased across runs in older adults only, indicating increasing interference from previous encounters of the word pairs. Both age groups showed a decrease in false recognition of rearranged pairs across runs, but this decrease was more pronounced in younger adults. Older adults were more confident than younger adults when falsely recognising both lure and rearranged word pairs, indicating that overall memory-confidence calibration is less accurate in old age relative to early adulthood. Taken together, our results suggest that age-related decline in memory monitoring, in interaction with binding deficits, contribute to age differences in false memory for highly familiar events

Modifying memory for a museum tour in older adults: Reactivation-related updating that enhances and distorts memory is reduced in ageing

“…Our research contributes to the growing literature on memory distortions in aging (e.g., Balota, et al, 1999; Dennis, Kim, & Cabeza, 2008; Dodson & Schacter, 2002; Fandakova et al, 2013; Giovanello, Kensinger, Wong, & Schacter, 2010; Jacoby, Bishara, Hessels, & Toth, 2005; Rosa & Gutchess, 2013; Koutstaal & Schacter, 1997; Schacter, Israel, & Racine, 1999; Tun, Wingfield, Rosen, & Blanchard, 1998), particularly on tasks involving false memories for information presented after study. For example, in the postevent misinformation paradigm (for review see Loftus, 2005), older adults are generally more susceptible to falsely recalling erroneous information presented during misinformation on a subsequent memory test (e.g., Cohen & Faulkner, 1989; Karpel, Hoyer, & Toglia, 2001; Loftus, Levidow, & Duensing, 1992; but see Coxon & Valentine, 1997).…”

“…Previous studies have shown that older adults recall less accurate memories and are more susceptible to various errors and distortions in memory (for reviews, see Fandakova, Shing, & Lindenberger, 2013; Jacoby & Rhodes, 2006; Koutstaal & Schacter, 2001; Schacter, Koutstaal, & Norman, 1997). Aging also impairs subjective recollection processes and contextual recall (for review see Spencer & Raz, 1995; Yonelinas, 2002), which contribute to the quality of memory reactivation.…”

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings

“…Younger and older adults with poor performance on behavioral tests reliant on MTL functioning are more likely to falsely identify lure items on the basis of semantic relatedness or familiarity with studied items (Fandakova et al, 2013b; Plancher et al, 2009; Rubin et al, 1999; see also Zhu et al, 2010), though the evidence for this relationship is mixed (McCabe et al, 2009). Likewise, performance on executive functioning tests sensitive to frontal functioning (particularly dorsolateral and superior medial PFC; see Stuss et al, 1998, 2000, 2001; Troyer et al, 1998) is associated with deficits in monitoring the source of incoming information for both younger and older adults (Chan & McDermott, 2007; Craik et al, 1990; Fandakova et al, 2013a; Glisky et al, 2001; Henkel et al, 1998; Pansky et al, 2009; Plancher et al, 2009; Roediger & Geraci, 2007; Rubin et al, 1999; Sauzéon et al, 2016). Highlighting the considerable heterogeneity in cognitive aging, older adults with preserved executive functioning are no more susceptible to false alarms than college students (Butler et al, 2004; Meade et al, 2012; though see Lindner & Davidson, 2014).…”

Age differences in hippocampal activation during gist-based false recognition

“…First, older adults may have difficulty monitoring retrieval attempts (e.g., Fandakova, Shing, & Lindenberger, 2013a, 2013b). In this case, the hippocampus may fail to access the correct information, possibly due to a failure in binding the details together (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000).…”