Effects of Age and Self-Performance on Memory for Who Did What

This research tested whether performing an action themselves leads young and older adults to false memory for having seen that action performed by another person. It also tested whether observing another person perform an action leads to false memory for self-performance of that action.

Healthy young and older adults viewed videos involving actors performing different actions. After viewing some of the actions, participants were instructed to perform those same actions themselves. Participants were tested 1 week later on their memory for the actions of the actors in the videos and for their own actions.

Older adults were more likely to believe that the actor in a test item had performed the same action previously when they had performed that same action themselves, both when the actor had indeed performed that action and when the actor had not. This effect of self-performance on memory for other people's actions was significantly smaller in young adults. Young adults performed better than older adults at remembering which actors had performed which actions in the videos, although participants had greater difficulty remembering who did what for actions that they had also performed themselves. The 2 groups were equally likely to falsely remember having performed an action that had only appeared in the videos, but young adults were better able than older adults to correctly identify the actions that they had in fact performed.

Older adults have greater difficulty than young adults at distinguishing self-performed actions from actions performed by other people.