The generation effect and reality monitoring: evidence from dementia and normal aging

The role of semantic memory activation in accounting for generation effects and reality monitoring was investigated in young and old normal adults and in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). Both young and old normal adults demonstrated higher recall for internally generated information than for externally presented information, whereas the DAT patients failed to demonstrate a generation effect. Similarly, reality monitoring scores (discrimination between internal and external items) were high for both age groups of normals, but near chance levels for the DAT group. These results implicate semantic memory as an important factor in generation effects.