Own-age biases in verbal person memory.
Two experiments examined own-age biases in younger adults', older adults', and children's verbal person memory. In line with findings from face recognition studies, Experiment 1 showed that younger adults had a better recall of own-age than of other-age targets, while older adults were unaffected by target age. Participants' self-reported interest in targets did not predict target memory. Experiment 2, which examined children's and younger adults' memory of own- and other-age targets, showed an own-age advantage in children's but not in younger adults' verbal person memory. Differences in expertise of own-/other-age targets, in combination with a development of expertise throughout the lifespan, may account for the findings, although alternative explanations should be considered. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Lindholm
Torun
T
Stockholm University, Eskilstuna, Sweden. torun.lindholm@mdh.se
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept