Article Abstract:
Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of contextual integration in memories of younger and older adults. Forty younger adults and 36 older adults were shown 36 pairs of pictures, one of which was the target and the other a context cue. Results for both experiments reveal that when sentences were generated that integrated the picture pair and when the pairs were already related to each other, recall was better. Regardless of which age group had generated the sentence, the participants' prediction about later recall and recall performance itself were the same.
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Article Abstract:
Perceptual speed and working memory have key roles in the cognitive aging process and age-related changes. However, their relative contributions to the cognitive process depends on the type of memory task. Speed constitutes the basis for various types of memory performance and consistently mediates age-related variance. Working memory is the fundamental construct for effortful types of memory, such as free and cued recall. However, it shows little relationship to spatial memory. Thus, the contribution of working memory increases in more effortful memory tasks.
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Article Abstract:
A study was conducted to examine why increased age is associated with poorer memory performance. The interrelations of age, self-reported health, perceptual speed and memory were assessed among 301 adult respondents ages 20-90. Results indicate that self-reported health directly influenced age differences in perceptual speed and indirectly influenced age differences in memory. Furthermore, lower self-reports health status were associated with increased age, slower speed and poorer memory performance.
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