Reducing age-related Memory Deficits: The Roles of Environmental Support and self-initiated Processing Activities

The notion that memory performance in older adults can be boosted by information provided by the environment was proposed by Craik (1983). The suggestion was that age-related memory deficits can be attenuated and sometimes even eliminated by a complementary combination of environmental support and consciously controlled self-initiated activities.

The objective of the present article was to review the subsequent empirical and theoretical work on the topics of environmental support and self-initiated ativities as they relate to the effects of aging on human memory.

The notion of schematic support from the person's knowledge base is introduced and its relevance discussed. In addition, the effects of various types of support on encoding and retrieval processes in older adults are desribed, and the increasing theoretical importance of executive processes in reducing age-related memory deficits is discussed.

As one main conclusion, it is suggested that self-initiated control processes interact with both information provided by the environment and by the person's knowledge base to improve the effectiveness of encoding and retrieval processing in older adults.