Age differences in retrieval: further support for the resource-reduction hypothesis.
Age differences in processing resources seem salient to age-related declines in secondary (or "recent") memory. Community-dwelling adults (N = 90, ages 30-80) completed 4 memory tests: Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) Logical Memory (LM), Cowboy Story (CS), WMS-R Visual Reproductions (VR), and Extended Complex Figure Test (ECFT; Fastenau, in press). Two space-capacity measures (WMS-R Digit Span and Visual Memory Span) and 4 processing speed measures (cancellation and mental-tracking tasks) assessed processing resources. A statistical control procedure was used to isolate retrieval efficiency and measures contributions of age and processing resources to retrieval. A negative relationship between age and retrieval efficiency emerged on all measures (p < .05). The age effect was reduced 60% on LM and CS when processing resources were controlled, eliminated for VR, and unchanged on ECFT. It is possible that visual-spatial retrieval requires fewer processing resources than does verbal retrieval.
Fastenau
P S
PS
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor 48109-0840, USA.
Denburg
N L
NL
Abeles
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning