Associative recognition memory for faces: more pronounced age-related impairments in binding intra- than inter-item associations.
Performance in recognition memory for associations between arbitrarily paired items is substantially disrupted in old age. The present study examined whether older adults show more or less of a deficit when the to-be-associated items can be 'unitized' into a single representation during encoding. Results revealed that older adults are disproportionately impaired in their memory for unitizable face-pairs, suggesting substantial age deficits in unitization processes required for the formation of associations between highly overlapping stimuli. Potential compensatory mechanisms are discussed that may account for these preliminary results of a selective age deficit in the encoding or retrieval of intra-item associations.
Jäger
Theodor
T
Department of Psychology, Experimental Neuropsychology Unit, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany. t.jaeger@mx.uni-saarland.de
Mecklinger
Axel
A
Kliegel
Matthias
M
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001244:Association; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult