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An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging

Aging is accompanied by a decline in associative memory, whereas item memory remains relatively stable compared to young adults. This age-related associative deficit is well replicated, but its mechanisms and influencing factors during learning are still largely unclear. In the present study, we exa...

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Autores principales: Endemann, Ricarda, Kamp, Siri-Maria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9539925/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36211863
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.991371
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author Endemann, Ricarda
Kamp, Siri-Maria
author_facet Endemann, Ricarda
Kamp, Siri-Maria
author_sort Endemann, Ricarda
collection PubMed
description Aging is accompanied by a decline in associative memory, whereas item memory remains relatively stable compared to young adults. This age-related associative deficit is well replicated, but its mechanisms and influencing factors during learning are still largely unclear. In the present study, we examined mediators of the age-related associative deficit, including encoding intentionality, strategy instructions, the timing of the memory test (immediate vs. 24 h delayed) and the material being learned (words vs. pictures) in a within-subject design. Older and younger adults performed seven encoding tasks on word pairs and picture pairs on two consecutive days, followed by item and associative recognition tests. The associative deficit was evident after all encoding tasks. We found no evidence for a difference in the magnitude of the associative deficit between incidental vs. intentional learning conditions. However, there was some evidence for a larger associative memory deficit with pictures versus words when the encoding task was held equal. Sentence generation and interactive imagery instructions in which participants generated their own mediators reduced the magnitude of the associative deficit. However, increased encoding guidance through the provision of mediators did not lead to an alleviation of the deficit, potentially because the specified mediators were implausible or difficult for the older adults to reconcile with prior knowledge. Finally, we found some evidence for a reduced age-related associative deficit with a test delay of 24 h. These results contribute to a better understanding of the factors affecting the relative difficulty of older adults with encoding and retrieving novel associations.
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spelling pubmed-95399252022-10-08 An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging Endemann, Ricarda Kamp, Siri-Maria Front Psychol Psychology Aging is accompanied by a decline in associative memory, whereas item memory remains relatively stable compared to young adults. This age-related associative deficit is well replicated, but its mechanisms and influencing factors during learning are still largely unclear. In the present study, we examined mediators of the age-related associative deficit, including encoding intentionality, strategy instructions, the timing of the memory test (immediate vs. 24 h delayed) and the material being learned (words vs. pictures) in a within-subject design. Older and younger adults performed seven encoding tasks on word pairs and picture pairs on two consecutive days, followed by item and associative recognition tests. The associative deficit was evident after all encoding tasks. We found no evidence for a difference in the magnitude of the associative deficit between incidental vs. intentional learning conditions. However, there was some evidence for a larger associative memory deficit with pictures versus words when the encoding task was held equal. Sentence generation and interactive imagery instructions in which participants generated their own mediators reduced the magnitude of the associative deficit. However, increased encoding guidance through the provision of mediators did not lead to an alleviation of the deficit, potentially because the specified mediators were implausible or difficult for the older adults to reconcile with prior knowledge. Finally, we found some evidence for a reduced age-related associative deficit with a test delay of 24 h. These results contribute to a better understanding of the factors affecting the relative difficulty of older adults with encoding and retrieving novel associations. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-09-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9539925/ /pubmed/36211863 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.991371 Text en Copyright © 2022 Endemann and Kamp. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Endemann, Ricarda
Kamp, Siri-Maria
An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
title An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
title_full An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
title_fullStr An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
title_full_unstemmed An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
title_short An examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
title_sort examination of task factors that influence the associative memory deficit in aging
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9539925/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36211863
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.991371
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