Effects of Age and Gender on Recall and Recognition Discriminability

Recall and recognition memory abilities are known to decline with increasing age, yet much of the evidence stems from studies that used simple measures of total target recall or recognition. The California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) includes a new measure of recall discriminability that is analogous to recognition discriminability. These discriminability measures yield more thorough assessments of recall and recognition by accounting for intrusion and false positive errors, respectively. Research also has shown that women outperform men on verbal episodic memory tests. However, gender differences in recall and recognition discriminability and the age-by-gender interaction on these constructs have not been thoroughly examined.

Cognitively healthy adults (N = 223) 18-91 years in age completed the CVLT-II. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine effects of age, gender, and the age-by-gender interaction on CVLT-II subtypes of recall and recognition discriminability.

Discriminability scores decreased with increasing age, and women outperformed men. There was an age-by-gender interaction on total, immediate, and free recall discriminability - the negative association between age and scores was stronger in men than in women. Exploratory analyses revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between age and recall discriminability scores in women.

The present findings support and expand upon the extant literature on aging, gender, and verbal episodic memory, plus describe a novel age-by-gender interaction intrinsic to subtypes of recall discriminability. The findings suggest that methods traditionally used to assess recognition memory function can be used to elucidate age- and gender-related changes in recall ability across the adult lifespan.