Age and Proactive Interference in Visual Working Memory: Reassessing the Recent-Probes Task

Proactive interference (PI) occurs when existing memories make it harder to retrieve newer information, and visual working memory in older adults may be impacted by increased vulnerability to PI. However, evidence supporting age-sensitive PI in the recent-probes task-a major technique for measuring PI-is mixed. Additionally, features of this procedure may have exaggerated or distorted the effect, so the current study reassessed the recent-probes task.

Throughout trials in an online experiment, adults aged 18-29 and 64-80 memorized four images over a brief delay and then had to choose between a current target and a foil depicting an item from the previous trial (a recent negative probe) or a more distant trial (a non-recent negative probe). Participants were cued to respond either immediately or after a pause, and targets came from a small, extensively repeated set or a unique set.

PI was present, with slower and less accurate responding to RN than NRN foils, and errors notably increased when stimuli were unique and an immediate response was required. However, there was little evidence for age differences in PI.

The present study did not suggest that older adults are more vulnerable to PI than younger adults, at least in this task and with this sample.