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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
The irrelevant speech effect and the level of interference in aging
Pascal W M Van Gerven1, Willemien A Meijer, Annemiek Vermeeren
1Department of Neurocognition, Faculty of Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. p.vangerven@psychology.unimaas.nl
Experimental Aging Research
|May 15, 2007
Summary
Older adults are not disproportionately affected by background speech interference during numeric working memory tasks. This finding challenges the inhibitory view of aging, suggesting age-related cognitive differences may depend on task specifics.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
Background:
- The inhibitory view of aging predicts greater detrimental effects of irrelevant background speech on older adults' cognition.
- Previous studies often used verbal learning tasks, potentially masking age-related differences in other cognitive domains.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of irrelevant speech on numeric working memory in young and older adults.
- To test the inhibitory view of aging using a numeric working memory task with varying levels of interference.
Main Methods:
- Twenty young and 20 older adults performed a numeric working memory task.
- Background auditory conditions included silence, white noise, Russian words, Dutch words, and Dutch numbers to manipulate interference levels.
- Reaction time and accuracy were measured.
Main Results:
- Reaction time increased with higher levels of interference across all participants.
- Accuracy remained unaffected by the level of interference.
- No significant interaction between age group and level of interference was observed.
Conclusions:
- Older adults are not disproportionately impaired by irrelevant background speech in numeric working memory tasks.
- The findings suggest that age-related cognitive differences in response to auditory distraction may be task-dependent, not solely explained by inhibitory deficits.
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