[The significance of context for episodic memory in young and elderly people]

In gerontological memory research it is generally thought that the decline in episodic memory performance observed in elderly adults is caused by deficits in contextual processing. This hypothesis is based on the assumptions of the levels-of-processing model, which suggest that memory performance is enhanced if the context is considered during learning. According to the model, integrating the context with an event is an effortful and age-sensitive process. 36 younger (M = 26.98 years) and 36 older (M = 68.60 years) adults learned three lists of words. Half of the words in each list were presented with a context word belonging to the same conceptual category as the target. Each list was tested by different memory tasks (e.g., lexical decisions, free recall). The context was encoded either incidentally or intentionally. The processing of context facilitated free recall in both age groups and in both learning conditions. The results contradict the assumption that the integration of an event with its context is an effortful process that declines with age.