| Abstract: | Examined the effects of age and of incidental-learning tasks on recall of a categorized word list. Ss were 50 18-30 yr old college students and 50 55-65 yr old teachers. The control groups were instructed to remember the words; incidental-learning groups performed orienting tasks, but were not informed that they would have to recall the words. 2 orienting tasks required that Ss process the meaning of the words; the other 2 orienting tasks did not involve semantic processing. Analysis of the free-recall data indicates that the semantic processing tasks led to much greater recall and organization of recall than the nonsemantic orienting tasks. In recall, there was a significant interaction between age and orienting task, with old Ss only manifesting incidental learning that was inferior to young Ss, whose orienting task involved semantic processing. The findings indicate that the presence or absence of an age-related decrement in incidental learning is predictable from the depth of processing of the incidentally acquired material. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
