Attentional engagement enhances encoding-based discrimination in aging

The present study investigated how goal-directed attention modulates age-related declines in the ability to behaviorally differentiate overlapping stimuli in memory. Participants completed a perceptual discrimination task involving relevant (attention-prioritized) and irrelevant items, followed by a surprise memory test. Using a sensitive gaze-based measure, we found that directing attention to prioritized stimuli enabled older adults to discriminate among similar items at levels comparable to young adults. Gaze similarity also predicted memory performance, with age differences emerging only during explicit testing. These findings demonstrate that attentional engagement and assessment method critically shape age-related changes in discriminating overlapping stimuli. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).