Adult age, presentation time, and memory performance

The present investigation involved an examination of the influence of the task variable of presentation time on the free recall performance of young and elderly adults. The two age groups of participants were initially asked to predict the number of words (out of 16) they would be able to recall if given a particular presentation duration. These predictions were subsequently compared to actual recall performance of the two groups when lists were displayed for the durations employed during the prediction phase. Results indicated that young adults more accurately predicted their recall performance than did older adults. Both age groups, however, were found to vary their recall predictions in a similar fashion as a function of changes in hypothetical presentation time of the word lists. The findings of the present study, therefore, supported those of previous investigations which concluded that age differences in memory knowledge do not accurately reflect age differences in memory task performance. No support, however, was provided for the hypothesis that age differences exist with respect to knowledge about the relationship between the task variable of presentation time and memory performance. Thus, these findings suggest that different dimensions of memory knowledge may be differentially influenced by the aging process.