title: Distraction can reduce age-related forgetting.
abstract: In three experiments, we assessed whether older adults' generally greater tendency to process distracting information can be used to minimize widely reported age-related differences in forgetting. Younger and older adults studied and recalled a list of words on an initial test and again on a surprise test after a 15-min delay. In the middle (Experiments 1a and 2) or at the end (Experiment 3) of the delay, participants completed a 1-back task in which half of the studied words appeared as distractors. Across all experiments, older adults reliably forgot unrepeated words; however, older adults rarely or never forgot the words that had appeared as distractors, whereas younger adults forgot words in both categories. Exposure to distraction may serve as a rehearsal episode for older adults, and thus as a method by which general distractibility may be co-opted to boost memory.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. renee.biss@utoronto.ca
authors: Renée K
authors: RK
authors: Biss
authors: K W Joan
authors: KW
authors: Ngo
authors: Lynn
authors: L
authors: Hasher
authors: Karen L
authors: KL
authors: Campbell
authors: Gillian
authors: G
authors: Rowe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult