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An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

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Age-related differences in the von restorff isolation effect.

Tamra J Bireta¹, Aimée M Surprenant, Ian Neath

¹Psychology Department, Social Sciences Building, The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Rd., Ewing, NJ 08628, USA. tbireta@tcnj.edu

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)

|September 27, 2007

Summary

Older adults show improved memory for distinctive items, similar to younger adults, due to the von Restorff effect. This memory benefit is smaller in older adults, supporting the associative deficit hypothesis.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Human Development

Background:

The isolation effect, or von Restorff effect, describes enhanced memory for distinctive items.
This effect is well-documented in children and younger adults but not consistently found in older adults.
Previous research indicated a lack of the von Restorff effect in older populations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the presence and magnitude of the von Restorff effect in older adults.
To compare memory performance for distinctive items between younger and older adults.
To examine the findings in the context of the associative deficit hypothesis.

Main Methods:

Participants (younger and older adults) were presented with lists of items.
A physical manipulation (font color) was used to create a distinctive item within each list.
Memory recall for the distinctive item and other items was assessed.

Main Results:

A significant von Restorff effect was observed in both younger and older adults.
The magnitude of the effect was smaller for older adults compared to younger adults.
Results support the associative deficit hypothesis regarding age-related memory differences.

Conclusions:

Older adults do benefit from item distinctiveness in memory, contrary to some previous findings.
Age-related differences in memory performance are partly explained by reduced associative abilities in older adults.
Distinctiveness provides a memory benefit across the adult lifespan, though it may be modulated by age.