The effects of aging on selectivity and control in short-term recall

Abstract

The ability to control encoding and retrievalprocessesstrategicallyis criticalfor the efficientuse of memory. We examined the ability of younger and older adults to selectively remember words on the basis of their arbitrary point values by using a technique developed by Watkins and Bloom (1999). In the first three experiments, younger subjects recalled more words than did older subjects, but an independent index of recall selectivity showed that older subjects were apparently more successful in selecting higher valued words. However, a fourth experiment showed that this superior selectivityon the part of older adults was attributable to their greaterproportional reliance on primary memory recall. Overall, the data suggest that although older adults recall fewer words than do younger adults, they exert as much control over some aspects of encoding.

The Adaptive and Strategic Use of Memory By Older Adults: Evaluative Processing and Value-Directed Remembering

“…1 in which the probability of recall is plotted as a function of point value. Younger adults perform quite well and on average recall more words than older adults, but in some instances do not appear as selective, as they recall both high and low value words (Castel, Benjamin et al, 2002). What is interesting about this is that after some experience with the task (participants are given numerous unique lists, one after another), participants become aware that they cannot remember all of the words (as the words are presented fairly rapidly at encoding).…”

“…Furthermore, as participants become more aware of how easy or diYcult it is to remember information, one can observe how strategic control is exerted such that participants begin to focus on high value information. In the ''selectivity'' paradigm (Castel, Benjamin, Craik, & Watkins, 2002;Castel, Farb, & Craik, 2007;Watkins & Bloom, 1999), participants are presented with a list of 12 words, and each word is paired with a diVerent numeric value ranging from 1 to 12 (e.g., table 5, uncle 9, apple 2, pilot 6. . ., see left panel in Fig.…”

The persistence of inferences in memory for younger and older adults: Remembering facts and believing inferences

“…For example, older adults may be less susceptible to inferences than younger adults because they are not able to make initial inferences as well as younger adults (Cohen, 1979;Hasher & Zacks, 1988;Zacks et al, 1987). Also, older adults may not have problems inhibiting the incorrect information in this paradigm, because the critical information is meaningful and important for understanding the story (Castel, Benjamin, Craik, & Watkins, 2002;Castel, Farb, & Craik, 2007;Rahhal, May, & Hasher, 2002). Thus, there are theoretical reasons to make both predictions, that older adults may or may not be more susceptible than younger adults to inferences' continued influence.…”

When do learners shift from habitual to agenda-based processes when selecting items for study?

“…We chose to manipulate the reward associated with learning items because people typically allocate more effort to learning items with a high (vs. lower) reward (Castel, 2007;Castel, Balota, & McCabe, 2009;Castel, Benjamin, Craik, & Watkins, 2002;Dunlosky & Thiede, 1998;Kahneman & Peavler, 1969;Soderstrom & McCabe, 2011), and reward can even override the influence of item difficulty on study decisions (Ariel et al, 2009). Thus, when studying items that vary in reward for learning, an obvious strategy to maximize performance would be to construct an agenda to prioritize the high-reward items for study first.…”