title: Did I unplug the iron or did I only look at it? External source monitoring across the adult life span.
abstract: Adult age differences in external source monitoring were examined using three types of materials differing in degree of salience. Young (mean age = 25.2 years), young-old (mean age = 66.0 years), and old adults (mean age = 74.7 years) learned organizable words, objects, and subject-performed tasks, with a blocked or random presentation. Later, subjects were asked to recognize the items and to identify their origins. Results indicated an age-related deficit in both item memory and external source monitoring as reflected by lower recognition performance, and more source confusion errors with increasing age. A strong positive relationship between episodic item memory and source memory was found for all age groups. Overall, the results suggest that age deficits in source monitoring may be determined by the same factors as age deficits in item memory.
authors.affiliation: Section of Psychology, Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bäckman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011936:Reality Testing