The attentional demands of encoding and retrieval in younger and older adults: I. Evidence from divided attention costs.

Four studies examined the effects of divided attention in younger and older adults. Attention was divided at encoding or retrieval in free recall (Experiment 1), cued recall (Experiments 2 and 3), and recognition (Experiment 4). Dividing attention at encoding disrupted memory performance equally for the two age groups; by contrast, for both age groups, dividing attention at retrieval had little or no effect on memory performance. Secondary task reaction times (RTs) were slowed to a greater extent for the older adults than for the younger adults, especially at retrieval. Age-related differences in RTs costs at retrieval were largest in free recall, smaller in cued recall, and smallest in recognition. These results provide evidence for an age-related increase in the attentional demands of encoding and retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A rational approach to managing stage I nonseminomatous germ cell cancer

Four studies examined the effects of divided attention in younger and older adults. Attention was divided at encoding or retrieval in free recall (Experiment 1), cued recall (Experiments 2 and 3), and recognition (Experiment 4). Dividing attention at encoding disrupted memory performance equally for the two age groups; by contrast, for both age groups, dividing attention at retrieval had little or no effect on memory performance. Secondary task reaction times (RTs) were slowed to a greater extent for the older adults than for the younger adults, especially at retrieval. Age-related differences in RT costs at retrieval were largest in free recall, smaller in cued recall, and smallest in recognition. These results provide evidence for an age-related increase in the attentional demands of encoding and retrieval.     

The attentional demands of encoding and retrieval in younger and older adults: 2. Evidence from secondary task reaction time distributions.

Three studies examined the effects of encoding or retrieval on properties of secondary task reaction time (RT) distributions in younger and older adults. Relative to full attention conditions, encoding and retrieval increased secondary task RT medians and standard deviations more for older adults than for younger adults, and the age-related RT increase was most pronounced among the slowest RTs. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed two age-related mechanisms underlying these effects, which were interpreted as cognitive slowing and reductions in attentional resources. Cognitive slowing affects the entire RT distribution regardless of the memory task. By contrast, reduced attentional resources result in very long RTs, especially when the tasks require self-initiated encoding or retrieval operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of aging and prospective memory on recognition of item and associative information.

Older adults typically perform worse than younger adults on tasks of associative, relative to item, memory. One account of this deficit is that older adults have fewer attentional resources to encode associative information. Previous researchers investigating this issue have divided attention at encoding and then have examined whether associative and item recognition were differentially affected. In the current study, we used a different cognitive task shown to tax attentional resources: event-based prospective memory. Although older adults demonstrated worse associative, relative to item, memory, the presence of the prospective memory task at encoding decreased item and associative memory accuracy to the same extent in both age groups. These results do not support the resource account of age-related associative deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the functional neuroanatomy of verbal recognition memory

Adult age differences are frequently observed in the performance of memory tasks, but the changes in neural function mediating these differences are largely unknown. We used (H2)15O positron emission tomography (PET) to measure changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during Encoding, Baseline, and Retrieval conditions of a recognition memory task. Twelve young adults (20-29 years) and 12 older adults (62-79 years) participated. During each task condition, participants made a two-choice manual response to each of 64 words. Analyses of the performance data yielded evidence of age-related slowing of encoding and retrieval processes, and an age-related decline in the accuracy of yes/no recognition (d'). The rCBF activation associated with both encoding and retrieval was greater for older adults than for young adults, but this pattern was more clearly evident for memory retrieval. For young adults, rCBF activation during retrieval occurred primarily in right prefrontal cortex, whereas older adults exhibited a more bilateral pattern of prefrontal activation. Regression analyses predicting reaction time in the memory task from regional PET counts confirmed that the neural system mediating memory retrieval is more widely distributed for older adults than for young adults. Both age groups exhibited some decrease in rCBF activation in the second half of the test session, relative to the first half. The practice-related decrease in rCBF activation was more prominent for young adults, suggesting that the older adults' recruitment of additional neural systems reflects a more continual allocation of attention to support task performance.     

Effects of age and a divided attention task presented during encoding and retrieval on memory.

The present studies were designed to examine age differences in memory when attention was divided during encoding, retrieval, or at both times. In Experiment 1, Ss studied categorized words while performing a number-monitoring task during encoding, retrieval, or at both times. Older Ss' free recall and clustering performance declined more than that of young Ss when attention was divided at encoding, but there was no similar age interaction when divided attention occurred at retrieval. In Experiment 2, the task demands at retrieval were increased by using a fast-paced, cued-recall task. The results remained unchanged from Experiment 1. Again, an age interaction occurred with divided attention at encoding but not at retrieval. These results were unexpected, given the emphasis in the memory-aging literature on increased difficulty of retrieval by older adults. The findings pose difficulties for limited processing resource views of age differences in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of bilingualism, aging, and semantic relatedness on memory under divided attention.

We examined how encoding and retrieval processes were affected by manipulations of attention, and whether the degree of semantic relatedness between words in the memory and distracting task modulated these effects. We also considered age and bilingual status as mediating factors. Monolingual and bilingual younger and older adults studied a list of words from a single semantic category presented auditorily, and later free recalled them aloud. During either study or retrieval, participants concurrently performed a distracting task requiring size decisions to words from either the same or a different semantic category as the words in the memory task. The greatest disruptions of memory from divided attention (DA) were for encoding rather than retrieval. The effect of semantic relatedness was significant only for DA at encoding. Older age and bilingualism were associated with lower recall scores in all conditions, but these factors did not influence the magnitude of memory interference. The results suggest that encoding is more sensitive to semantic similarity in a distracting task than is retrieval. The role of attention at encoding and retrieval is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

One-trial associative priming of nonwords in young and older adults.

In this article, three experiments in which single-trial associative priming for nonwords was investigated in young and older adults in a pronunciation task are reported. During an encoding task, associative priming was observed for young and older adults, although cued recall was near zero for both groups. Associative priming for young and older adults was found under full attention conditions, but when attention was divided at study, associative priming was observed in Experiment 3, but not in Experiment 2. Divided attention also disrupted recognition memory for new associations in young and older adults. The results limit the generality of findings of age-related decrements in associative priming by showing an absence of such decrements in tasks that do not require elaborative processing during encoding. They also argue against G. Musen and L. Squire's (see record 1993-34212-001) suggestion that formation of new connections in implicit memory requires multiple study opportunities, whereas declarative memory is specialized for rapid acquisition of new associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More data-driven processing at retrieval reduces age-related memory deficits.

The environmental support hypothesis postulates that it may be possible to reduce older adults' deficits in episodic memory by providing environmental support at the encoding and/or retrieval phases. To examine the validity of this hypothesis, we varied the amount of retrieval support by manipulating data-driven processes. Young and older adults performed a word-stem cued recall task under a low data-driven condition (LDDC) in which the retrieval cue comprised 3 letters, and a higher data-driven condition (HDDC) in which the cue comprised 4 letters. Older adults benefitted more than younger adults from the additional support. Older adults exhibited a large deficit relative to younger adults in the LDDC condition but no age differences were found in the HDDC condition. These findings demonstrate that age-related memory deficits can be reduced by increasing the environmental support at retrieval associated with the data-driven component of retrieval processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of attention on age-related relational memory deficits: Evidence from a novel attentional manipulation.

Healthy aging is often accompanied by episodic memory decline. Prior studies have consistently demonstrated that older adults show disproportionate deficits in relational memory (RM) relative to item memory (IM). Despite rich evidence of an age-related RM deficit, the source of this deficit remains unspecified. One of the most widely investigated factors of age-related RM impairment is a reduction in attentional resources. However, no prior studies have demonstrated that reduced attentional resources are the critical source of age-related RM deficits. Here, we used qualitatively different attention tasks and tested whether reduced attention for relational processing underlies the RM deficit observed in aging. In Experiment 1, we imposed either item-detection or relation-detection attention tasks on young adults during episodic memory encoding and found that only the concurrent attention task that involves relational processing disproportionately impaired RM performance in young adults. Moreover, by ruling out the possible confound of task difficulty on the disproportionate RM impairment, we further demonstrated that reduced relational attention is a key factor for the age-related RM deficit. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results from Experiment 1 by using different materials of stimuli and found that the effect of relational attention on RM is material general. The results of Experiment 2 also showed that reducing attentional resources for relational processing in young adults strikingly equated their RM performance to that of older adults. Thus, this study documents the first evidence that reduced attentional resources for relational processing are a critical factor for the relational memory impairment observed in aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The associative memory deficit of older adults: The role of strategy utilization.

Past research has established an associative deficit hypothesis (e.g., M. Naveh-Benjamin, 2000) that attributes part of older adults' poor episodic memory performance to their difficulty in creating and retrieving cohesive episodes. Here, the authors evaluate the degree to which this deficit can be reduced by older adults' use of associative strategies. Young and older adults learned word pairs under either intentional-learning instructions or instructions eliciting associative strategies either at encoding or both at encoding and at retrieval, and they then took tests on their memory for both the components and the associations. Results replicated the associative deficit of older adults under intentional-learning instructions. In addition, they showed that instructions to use appropriate associative strategies during either encoding or, even more so, during encoding and retrieval resulted in a significant decrease in the associative deficit. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding and retrieval differences between young and old: The impact of attentional capacity usage.

An experiment was conducted to investigate (a) whether the semantic processing deficit in the aged can be attributed to age differences in capacity usage during encoding and (b) age differences in terms of the interaction between encoding and retrieval operations. Young and older adults engaged in both a primary (semantic, rhyme, and arithmetic questions) and secondary task (probe monitoring) at encoding and retrieval. The study provided no evidence for the hypothesis that the age-related semantic processing deficit is the result of age differences in capacity usage during semantic and nonsemantic encoding. However, there was evidence that reinstating the encoded semantic context with the same semantic cue at retrieval did not help older subjects as much as younger subjects at recall. These results were interpreted as suggesting that there may be an age deficit in the effective use of semantic contextual information at encoding and retrieval rather than a simple age deficit in semantic processing at encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and Maintaining Intentions Over Delays: Do It or Lose It.

When execution of retrieved intentions must be briefly delayed, older adults display deficits in performing those intentions (G. O. Einstein, M. A. McDaniel, M. Mauri, B. Cochran, & M. Baker, 2000). This initial finding was extended by showing age-related deficits with 5-sec unfilled delays, with instructions to rehearse during the delay, and with divided attention during initial retrieval of the intention. Performance increased with a break at the end of the delay period, such that when combined with full attention (during retrieval), older adults' performance approached that of younger adults. These results suggest that age compromises maintenance of information in awareness. Consequently, when forced to delay execution of retrieved intentions, older adults may rely more on plan reformulation and subsequent retrieval of the intention from long-term memory at the end of the delay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and reflective processes of working memory: Binding and test load deficits.

It was hypothesized that age-related deficits in episodic memory for feature combinations (e.g., B. L. Chalfonte & M. K. Johnson, 1996) signal, in part, decrements in the efficacy of reflective component processes (e.g., M. K. Johnson, 1992) that support the short-term maintenance and manipulation of information during encoding (e.g., F. I. M. Craik, R. G. Morris, & M. L. Gick, 1990; T. A. Salthouse, 1990). Consistent with this, age-related binding deficits in a working memory task were found in 2 experiments. Evidence for an age-related test load deficit was also found: Older adults had greater difficulty than young adults when tested on 2 features rather than 1, even when binding was not required. Thus, disruption of source memory in older adults may involve deficits in both encoding processes (binding deficits) and monitoring processes (difficulty accessing multiple features, evaluating them, or both). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes in human memory: further support for an asymmetry

Despite a tradition in cognitive psychology that views encoding and retrieval processes in human memory as being similar, F. I. M. Craik, R. Govoni, M. Naveh-Benjamin and N. D. Anderson (1996) have recently shown that notable differences exist between the 2 when divided-attention manipulations are used. In this article, the authors further examined this asymmetry by using several manipulations that changed task demands at encoding and retrieval. The authors also used a secondary-task methodology that allowed a microlevel analysis of the secondary-task costs associated with encoding and retrieval. The results illustrated the resiliency of retrieval processes to manipulations involving different task demands. They also indicated different loci of attention demands at encoding and retrieval. The authors contend that whereas encoding processes are controlled, retrieval processes are obligatory but do require attentional resources for their execution.     

Effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes: Assessment of attentional costs and a componential analysis.

Recent research has shown that divided attention at retrieval, in contrast to encoding, affected memory performance only minimally. This immunity at retrieval was associated with a significant secondary task cost. In this article the authors further investigated these effects employing a cued-recall task and a multimeasure approach with accuracy, latency, overall attentional costs, and the temporal distribution of attentional costs associated with the encoding and retrieval of low- and high-frequency words. The results of 2 experiments yielded a complex pattern of both similarities and differences between encoding and retrieval. Simultaneous inspection of the different measures of performance was instrumental in identifying 3 major types of retrieval (unsuccessful, slow, and fast), as well as different phases of the retrieval process, each of which was characterized by a different demand for attentional resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and Conditional Probability Judgments: A Global Matching Approach.

Age differences in bias in conditional probability judgments were investigated based on predictions derived from the Minerva-Decision Making model (M. R. P. Dougherty, C. F. Gettys, & E. E. Ogden, 1999), a global matching model of likelihood judgment. In this study, 248 younger and older adults completed frequency judgment and conditional probability judgment tasks. Age differences in the frequency judgment task are interpreted as an age-related deficit in memory encoding. Older adults' stronger biases in the probability judgment task point to age differences in criterion setting. Age-related biases were eliminated when age groups were equated on memory encoding by means of study time manipulation. The authors conclude that older adults' stronger judgment biases are a function of memory impairment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in episodic memory: Further support for an associative-deficit hypothesis.

This study further tested an associative-deficit hypothesis (ADH; M. Naveh-Benjamin, 2000), which attributes a substantial part of older adults' deficient episodic memory performance to their difficulty in merging unrelated attributes-units of an episode into a cohesive unit. First, the results of 2 experiments replicate those observed by M. Naveh-Benjamin (2000) showing that older adults are particularly deficient in memory tests requiring associations. Second, the results extend the type of stimuli (pictures) under which older adults show this associative deficit. Third, the results support an ADH in that older adults show less of an associative deficit when the components of the episodes used are already connected in memory, thereby facilitating their encoding and retrieval. Finally, a group of younger adults who encoded the information under divided-attention conditions did not show this associative deficit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does a time-monitoring deficit influence older adults' delayed retrieval shift during skill acquisition?

The authors evaluated age-related time-monitoring deficits and their contribution to older adults' reluctance to shift to memory retrieval in the noun-pair lookup (NP) task. Older adults (M = 67 years) showed slower rates of response time (RT) improvements than younger adults (M = 19 years), because of a delayed strategy shift. Older adults estimated scanning latencies as being faster than they actually were and showed poor resolution in discriminating short from long RTs early in practice. The difference in estimated RT for retrieval and scanning strategies predicted retrieval use, independent of actual RT differences. Separate scanning and recognition memory tasks revealed larger time-monitoring differences for older adults than in the NP task. Apparently, the context of heterogeneous RTs as a result of strategy use in the NP task improved older adults' accuracy of RT estimates. RT feedback had complex effects on time-monitoring accuracy, although it generally improved absolute and relative accuracy of RT estimates. Feedback caused older adults to shift more rapidly to the retrieval strategy in the NP task. Results suggest that deficient time monitoring plays a role in older adults' delayed retrieval shift, although other factors (e.g., confidence in the retrieval strategy) also play a role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for age–face associations in younger and older adults: The role of generation and schematic support.

Memory for ages of unfamiliar faces was examined in an associative memory task to determine whether generation as well as schematic support (cues from faces) would enhance later cued recall of the age information and reduce older adults' associative deficit. Participants studied faces and were either presented with the age or first had to guess before being shown the correct age. Later, participants were given a cued-recall test. Both younger and older adults exhibited associative memory enhancements from first generating the ages at encoding (a generation effect) despite the fact the initial generation was often inaccurate. Although older adults recalled fewer ages overall compared with younger adults, older adults were able to remember the age information for older faces equally as well as younger adults. However, when errors committed during generation were large and when schematic support was not available to support encoding and retrieval (when the age information was inconsistent given the cues from the face), generating was no longer beneficial for either older or younger adults. Thus, although older adults display an associative deficit when remembering specific age–face associations, this can be reduced through the use of prior knowledge and generation at encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)