Age-Related Differences in Recognition Memory for Discourse: The Case of Modified Words, Competitors, and Related...

Modified words (bear in injured and dangerous bear) have been shown to be retrieved more easily from memory compared to unmodified counterparts (bear) during real-time sentence processing. However, there has been little research on whether and how this modification benefit affects subsequent recognition memory for discourse, and how such an effect is modulated by cognitive aging. Utilizing a sentence comprehension paradigm and a subsequent surprise recognition memory task, we observed that modifying adjectives (e.g., injured and dangerous) benefit recognition memory for target words (e.g., bear) against phonological lures (e.g., beer). Moreover, older adults were significantly less likely to correctly reject semantic lures (e.g., moose) relative to younger adults, but they exhibited no memory deficit for phonological (beer) or unrelated lures (e.g., screw). This suggests modifications may strengthen memory traces for the surface form of the associated words, aiding subsequent recognition. Further, older adults are particularly susceptible to semantic interference, supporting theories assuming an age-related inhibitory deficit and/or an increased reliance on gist-based memory.