Age differences in the effects of experimenter-instructed versus self-generated strategy use

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Adult development
• Memory and learning strategies

Background:

• Interactive imagery is a more effective encoding strategy than rote repetition for paired associate recall.
• Prior to experience, younger and older adults often perceive these strategies as equally effective.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how supervised and self-chosen strategy experience influences younger and older adults' knowledge of strategy effectiveness.
• To examine the impact of strategy experience on knowledge updating, strategy use, and paired associate recall.

Main Methods:

• Ninety-nine younger and 90 older adults participated.
• Participants used either experimenter-assigned imagery or repetition, or chose their own strategy for a first paired associate list.
• A second, unsupervised list evaluated strategy knowledge, use, and recall after initial experience.

Main Results:

• Both age groups learned imagery's superiority through experience, adjusting their strategy ratings accordingly.
• Older adults demonstrated less knowledge updating compared to younger adults.
• Younger adults increased imagery use and improved recall; older adults continued using repetition more.

Conclusions:

• Older adults update their knowledge of strategy effectiveness but to a lesser extent than younger adults.
• Older adults exhibit an inertial tendency to persist with the repetition strategy, even after learning of imagery's superiority.