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Ask how they did it: untangling the relationships between task-specific strategy use, everyday strategy use, and
Caitlin M Terao1, Sara Pishdadian1,2, Morris Moscovitch3
1Department of Psychology and Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience (CIAN), York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Summary
Older adults using more task-specific strategies showed better associative memory performance. Female gender and using at least two strategies predicted higher performance, but did not explain the gender advantage.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroscience of aging
Background:
- Everyday and task-specific strategy use are linked to associative memory in aging.
- The interplay between these strategies and their gender-based differences in predicting memory performance remain understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between everyday and task-specific strategy use.
- To determine if these strategies predict associative memory performance in older adults.
- To explore potential gender differences in strategy use and memory performance.
Main Methods:
- 566 older adults (ages 60-80, 53% female) completed an online study.
- Measures included the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) for everyday strategies, a Face-Name Task (FNT) for associative memory, and self-reported task-specific strategies.
- Statistical analyses examined interrelationships and predictive contributions to FNT performance.
Main Results:
- Higher use of task-specific strategies on the FNT correlated with better performance.
- Women outperformed men on the FNT but showed no difference in task-specific strategy use.
- Using at least two task strategies and female gender significantly predicted better FNT performance.
Conclusions:
- Task-specific strategy use is more strongly associated with associative memory than general everyday strategy use.
- Neither strategy type fully explains the observed female advantage in associative memory performance.
- Assessing task-specific strategy use can help understand age-related memory decline.
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