Older adults retain detail-specific associations: Evidence from an indirect memory test

Research suggests that age-related episodic memory decline is characterized by a reduced ability to form detailed associations. In two experiments, we test this claim using a sensitive, indirect memory test and additionally examine how associative encoding is influenced by encoding duration. In Experiment 1, young and older adult participants studied scene-object pairs for varying durations before completing a speeded congruency judgment task involving intact, recombined, and new pairs. Recombined pairs varied based on detail-specific, perceptual (related pairs), or conceptual (unrelated pairs) features. Participants in both age groups were generally slower to respond to recombined than intact pairs on the congruency judgment task. Critically, both groups formed detail-specific associations, as evidenced by slower response times to related compared to intact pairs - though this effect emerged only at longer encoding durations for older adults. In Experiment 2, using a similar paradigm, we replicated the response time effects in older adults using a single encoding duration and additionally observed poorer memory for recombined pairs relative to young adults on a traditional recognition (direct) memory task. Our findings indicate that older adults can form detailed associations, as demonstrated by faster response times to intact compared to recombined pairs, and can access those associations when retrieval demands are minimized in indirect memory tests.