Aging and prospective memory: examining the influences of self-initiated retrieval processes.
Past research has frequently failed to find age differences in prospective memory. This article tested the possibility that age differences would be more likely to emerge on a prospective memory task that was high in self-initiated retrieval. In the 1st experiment, participants were asked to perform an action every 10 min (a time-based task presumed to be high in self-initiated retrieval); in the 2nd experiment, participants were asked to perform an action whenever a particular word was presented (an event-based task presumed to be relatively low in self-initiated retrieval). Age differences were found with the time-based task but not with the event-based task. This pattern of age differences was again found in a 3rd experiment in which a new experimental procedure was used and the nature of the prospective memory task was directly varied. Generally, the results suggest that self-initiated retrieval processes are an important component of age-related differences across both retrospective and prospective memory tasks.
Einstein
G O
GO
Department of Psychology, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina 29613, USA.
McDaniel
M A
MA
Richardson
S L
SL
Guynn
M J
MJ
Cunfer
A R
AR
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D008606:Mental Processes; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014888:Wechsler Scales