Second thoughts versus second looks: an age-related deficit in reflectively refreshing just-activated information
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Updated: Oct 2, 2026

Eye Movement Monitoring of Memory
Published on: August 15, 2010
Marcia K Johnson1, John A Reeder, Carol L Raye
1Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA. marcia.johnson@yale.edu
Abstract:
Age-related deficits in memory are greater as encoding and retrieval tasks require more reflective (self-generated or executive) processing. One problem in developing more specific models of age-related changes in cognition is that the tasks studied tend to be complex and vary in the combinations of component cognitive processes they recruit. Here we report an age-related deficit in one of the most elementary, but critical, components of reflection: refreshing a just-activated representation. Impairment in such a process potentially has a wide-ranging impact on all higher-order cognition.
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