Stereotypes Influence Destination Memory In Normal Aging

Background/Study Context: A substantial body of literature suggests that stereotypes can play a determining role in making judgments about the source of information. This study investigated this issue for destination memory or remembering to whom information has been previously told.

Younger adults and older adults told six medical and six mechanical facts to a picture depicting a physician, and also told six different medical and six different mechanical facts to a picture depicting a mechanic. On a subsequent recognition task, participants had to decide to whom each fact had been previously told.

Analysis showed better destination memory for destination-consistent facts than for inconsistent facts, a stereotypical tendency that was more apparent in older adults than in younger adults. Difficulties in attributing facts to their fact-inconsistent destination were reliably correlated with executive functions in younger adults and older adults.

Executive functions are likely to be required to monitor discrepancies between facts and their inconsistent destination, whereas no such monitoring is required when statements are consistent with their destination.