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A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
Published on: May 16, 2017
Age differences in memory retrieval shift: governed by feeling-of-knowing?
Christopher Hertzog1, Dayna R Touron
1School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0170, USA. christopher.hertzog@psych.gatech.edu
Psychology and Aging
|March 16, 2011
Summary
Older adults exhibit slower strategic shifts in memory retrieval due to impaired associative learning and retrieval reluctance, not just feeling-of-knowing (FOK) differences. This impacts their ability to effectively retrieve information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
- Human Memory
Background:
- Strategic shifts in memory retrieval are crucial for efficient information access.
- Age-related differences in cognitive strategies, such as retrieval shift, are not fully understood.
- Feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments are believed to influence retrieval strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age differences in the strategic shift from visual scanning to retrieval.
- To determine if age-related differences in FOK explain older adults' delayed retrieval shift.
- To examine the role of confidence judgments (CJs) in older adults' retrieval strategies.
Main Methods:
- Employed the noun-pair lookup (NP) task with three conditions: standard learning, fast FOK judgments, and a choice condition.
- Assessed participants' FOK, retrieval choices, and confidence judgments (CJs) for recognition memory.
- Analyzed age differences in FOK magnitudes, retrieval choices, and CJ resolution.
Main Results:
- Small age differences in FOK magnitudes were observed, but significant age differences in retrieval choices.
- Older adults demonstrated lower resolution in CJs for NP items, correlating with retrieval use.
- Older adults struggled with accuracy and confidence for rearranged pairs compared to intact pairs.
Conclusions:
- Older adults' slowed retrieval shift is attributed to impaired early associative learning and later retrieval reluctance.
- FOK alone does not fully account for age differences in retrieval strategy shifts.
- Confidence judgment resolution significantly influences the rate of retrieval shift in both younger and older adults.
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