Aging and effect of predictability on reality monitoring.
This study compared the direction of source confusions and the effect of predictability on reality monitoring for internally generated information and externally derived information in younger (mean age 19-25) and older (mean age 70-85) adults. Participants were invited to listen to the conclusions of simple stories or to generate and imagine them. Conclusions could be either highly predictable (Experiment 1) or unpredictable (Experiment 2). The change in predictability produced changes in the direction of source confusions only in older adults. When a story ended in a predictable way, older adults attributed to imagination conclusions that were actually perceived, whereas the pattern of confusions tended to reverse with unpredictable stories.
Mammarella
Nicola
N
Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom. nmamma@essex.ac.uk
Cornoldi
Cesare
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D011939:Mental Recall; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011936:Reality Testing