title: Can DRYAD explain age-related associative memory deficits?
abstract: A recent interesting theoretical account of aging and memory judgments, the DRYAD (density of representations yields age-related deficits; Benjamin, 2010; Benjamin, Diaz, Matzen, & Johnson, 2012), attributes the extensive findings of disproportional age-related deficits in memory for source, context, and associations, to a global decline in memory fidelity. It is suggested that this global deficit, possibly due to a decline in attentional processes, is moderated by weak representation of contextual information to result in disproportional age-related declines. In the current article, we evaluate the DRYAD model, comparing it to specific age-related deficits theories, in particular, the ADH (associative deficit hypothesis, Naveh-Benjamin, 2000). We question some of the main assumptions/hypotheses of DRYAD in light of data reported in the literature, and we directly assess the role of attention in age-related deficits by manipulations of divided attention and of the instructions regarding what to pay attention to in 2 experiments (one from the literature and a new one). The results of these experiments fit the predictions of the ADH and do not support the main assumption/hypotheses of DRYAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naveh-Benjamin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult