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The influence of long-term memory on working memory: Age-differences in proactive facilitation and interference.
Stephen Rhodes1, Bradley R Buchsbaum2,3, Lynn Hasher2,3
1Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M6A 2E1, Canada. steverho89@gmail.com.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|July 29, 2021
Summary
Older adults show greater proactive interference in memory than younger adults. While both age groups benefit from prior learning, older adults struggle more with conflicting information, unlike younger adults who demonstrate immunity to interference.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
- Human Memory
Background:
- Prior learning can impede new memory formation due to proactive interference, particularly when old and new information conflicts.
- Individual differences in managing proactive interference contribute to memory performance variations between younger and older adults.
- Previous research indicated proactive facilitation in younger adults' working memory without long-term to working memory interference.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the generalizability of proactive facilitation and interference findings to different stimulus materials.
- To examine age-related differences in proactive interference, specifically comparing younger and older adults.
- To assess how prior learning of image-word associations affects subsequent working memory performance in different age groups.
Main Methods:
- Participants learned image-word associations before undertaking an image-word working memory task.
- Experimental conditions included repeated pairs (expected facilitation) and recombined pairs (potential interference).
- Performance was compared between younger and older adults on trials with previously learned versus novel associations.
Main Results:
- Both younger and older adults demonstrated similar levels of facilitation from previously learned associations compared to new pairs.
- Older adults exhibited proactive interference from long-term to working memory.
- Younger adults showed proactive facilitation, even with conflicting learned elements, suggesting immunity to interference.
Conclusions:
- Older adults are more susceptible to proactive interference from long-term to working memory compared to younger adults.
- Younger adults appear to possess a mechanism for avoiding proactive interference, even when presented with conflicting information.
- These findings highlight significant age-related differences in the ability to manage proactive interference in memory tasks.
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