Memory and organization in elderly subjects

Older adults (ages 67-91) and younger adults (ages 16-30) sorted 100 unrelated words into as many categories as they chose, provided labels for those categories, and were given a surprise recall test with or without the labels as retrieval cues. The older adults recalled fewer words, fewer categories, and fewer items per category than the younger adults. Though generally facilitory, cuing did not reduce the age-related differences in recall performance. Clustering was equivalent for the two age groups. The correlation between number of categories used in sorting and number of words recalled was significant for the young adults only, replicating and extending the results reported by Worden and Meggison (1984). The results were discussed in terms of Hunt and Einstein's (1981) distinction between item-specific and relationship processing, and an alternative interpretation was offered.