Professional expertise does not eliminate age differences in imagery-based memory performance during adulthood.

Abstract

Using a testing-the-limits paradigm, the authors investigated the modulation (attenuation) of negative adult age differences in imagery-based memory performance as a function of professional expertise. Six older graphic designers, 6 normal older adults, 6 younger graphic design students, and 6 normal younger students participated in a 19-session program with a cued-recall variant of the Method of Loci. Older graphic designers attained higher levels of mnemonic performance than normal older adults but were not able to reach younger adults' level of performance; a perfect separation of age groups was achieved. Spatial visualization was a good predictor of mnemonic performance. Results suggest that negative adult age differences in imagery-based memory are attenuated but not eliminated by the advantages associated with criterion-relevant ability (talent) and experience. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of imagery-related professional expertise on the magnitude of age differences in memory functioning with the Method of Loci, a mnemonic strategy for the serial encoding and recall of word lists (Bower, 1970; McDaniel & Pressley, 1987; Paivio, 1971). Recent research using a testing-the-limits paradigm (Baltes, 1987; Kliegl & Baltes, 1987) has reported the existence of large and robust age differences favoring the young in recall performance with the Method of Loci during adulthood (Baltes & Kliegl, 1992; Kliegl, Smith, & Baltes, 1989). The present study investigates whether age differences would also be observed in a group of older adults with large amounts of criterion-relevant preexperimental practice and high levels of criterion-relevant ability. Evidence from different lines of research suggests that visual imagery plays an important role in memory functioning with the Method of Loci. First, it has been shown that the reported The research described in this article was conducted in the context of the project "Expertise and Cognitive Aging" (principal investigators, Reinhold Kliegl and Paul B. Baltes). A part of the data presented here stems from dissertation work conducted by Ulman Lindenberger. The dissertation work was supported by a stipend of the Max Planck Society and by a predoctoral traineeship from the Volkswagen Foundation. We would like to express our gratitude to Ulrich Mayr, Jacqui Smith, Ursula Staudinger, and Gerhard Steiner for their valuable contributions to our thinking about the topic of this article and to three anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. We would also like to thank Daniela Becker and Annette Rentz for assistance in data collection. Ulman Lindenberger is now a research scientist at the Academy of Sciences and Technology in Berlin.

Who Benefits the Most? Individual Differences in the Transfer of Executive Control Training Across the Lifespan

“…The fact that we found compensation effects after the training of executive control is in stark contrast to evidence from strategy-based memory training, which often resulted in magnification effects (e.g., Baltes and Kliegl 1992;Brehmer et al 2007;Lindenberger et al 1992;Verhaeghen and Marcoen 1996). This pattern has been explained by younger adults having more cognitive resources to acquire and implement new strategies.…”

“…Evidence for this view comes often-but not exclusively-from memory strategy training studies applying mnemonic techniques, such as the method of loci (e.g., Baltes and Kliegl 1992;Brehmer et al 2007;Lindenberger et al 1992;Verhaeghen and Marcoen 1996). The second and opposing account, referred to as the compensation account, assumes that high-performing individuals would show less benefit because they are already functioning at the optimal level and have less room for improvement.…”

Memorizing while walking: Increase in dual-task costs from young adulthood to old age.

“…Research participants of all ages were expected to optimize performance under dual-task conditions by shifts of attention between the memory and the walking tasks. On the basis of previous findings (Baddeley & Lieberman, 1980;Bower, 1970;Bugelski, 1970;Lea, 1975;Lindenberger et al, 1992), we assumed that the formation of associations between to-be-learned words and locations, most likely by means of mental imagery, would be the most effortful cognitive operation in the context of the memory task. Therefore, we expected that research participants of all ages, and perhaps especially old adults, would show a pronounced decrement in parameters of walking performance, such as step frequency, during the association-formation phase of MOL performance, compared with the initial auditory word comprehension phase.…”

Memory plasticity across the life span: Uncovering children's latent potential.

“…Baltes & Lindenberger, 1988;Kramer & Willis, 2003;Lindenberger, Kliegl, & Baltes, 1992). Regarding memory plasticity, the general finding is that older adults' plasticity is much more limited than that of younger adults but that cognitively healthy older adults, at least up to their 80s, continue to be able to improve their memory performance through acquiring and using mnemonic techniques.…”