Ageing and the self-reference effect in memory.
The present study investigates potential age differences in the self-reference effect. Young and older adults incidentally encoded adjectives by deciding whether the adjective described them, described another person (Experiments 1 & 2), was a trait they found desirable (Experiment 3), or was presented in upper case. Like young adults, older adults exhibited superior recognition for self-referenced items relative to the items encoded with the alternate orienting tasks, but self-referencing did not restore their memory to the level of young adults. Furthermore, the self-reference effect was more limited for older adults. Amount of cognitive resource influenced how much older adults benefit from self-referencing, and older adults appeared to extend the strategy less flexibly than young adults. Self-referencing improves older adults' memory, but its benefits are circumscribed despite the social and personally relevant nature of the task.
Gutchess
Angela H
AH
Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, MA, USA. gutchess@brandeis.edu
Kensinger
Elizabeth A
EA
Yoon
Carolyn
C
Schacter
Daniel L
DL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept