title: Age differences in source monitoring and referent discrimination.
abstract: In contrast to previous studies which addressed separately memory for source and referent, the present experiment analyzes the effects of aging on memory for both, source and referent. The experiment simulated a conversation between two people exchanging descriptors of themselves and the other speaker (e.g., "I am helpful," "you are capable"). Participants (N = 60) were divided into two age groups: younger (M = 23.47 years old, SD = 2.37), older (M = 70.30 years old, SD = 3.73). Recall, recognition, and accuracy in identifying source (e.g., "who said helpful?") and referent (e.g., "about whom was capable said?") were analyzed. Younger and older adults recalled and recognized equally well information read by the experimenter about herself, but only young adults showed better memory for the descriptors they read about themselves. Older adults were impaired in source monitoring, but not in reference discrimination. Normal referent discrimination in older adults is attributed to the fact that the referent forms part of the content of the episode, whereas who spoke it is part of its context, and older adults tend to show greater deficits in context than in content memory. These results are explained within the source and reality monitoring framework.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad Complutense, 28223 Madrid, Spain. truiz@psi.ucm.es
authors.forename: Trinidad
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Gallego-Largo
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Simón
authors.forename: Aurora G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Suengas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009949:Orientation; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult