The associative memory deficit of older adults: further support using face-name associations.
Previous studies have established an associative deficit hypothesis (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000), which attributes part of older adults' deficient episodic memory performance to their difficulty in creating cohesive episodes. In this article, the authors further evaluate this hypothesis, using ecologically relevant materials. Young and old participants studied name-face pairs and were then tested on their recognition memory for the names, faces, and the name-face pairs. The results extend the conditions under which older adults exhibit an associative deficit. They also show that reduced attentional resources are not the sole mediator of this deficit.
Naveh-Benjamin
Moshe
M
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. navehbenjaminm@missouri.edu
Guez
Jonathan
J
Kilb
Angela
A
Reedy
Sarah
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009275:Names; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D011930:Reaction Time; D014706:Verbal Learning