Effects of contextual integration on recall of pictures by older adults

This study investigated age-related differences in the ability to utilize integrative relationships between target and context as a memory support by directly manipulating the relationship between a target picture and context. We hypothesized that as the active integration required between target and cue increased, age differences would increase. Old and young adults were instructed to remember target pictures, each presented with a pictorial cue. The cue/target relationship was one of three types: categorically related (high integration condition), visually interacting (high integration condition), or unrelated and noninteracting (low integration condition). Cued recall of the targets was tested. The results indicated that the poorly integrated target-context relationship produced the largest age difference, supporting the integration hypothesis.