Visual and Haptic influences on memory: age differences in recall

Older (age 60-75) and younger adults (age 20-35) participated in a within-subject experiment. All participants were given four lists of 17 items, a recall test followed each list. Each participant was given a separate list under each of the following conditions, at the rate of 1 item every 10 s. (1) control: list of nouns; (2) visual-only: visually shown objects; (3) visual-and-haptic: given objects to hold and visually examine; (4) haptic-only: blindfolded, given objects to hold. A final surprise recall test was given of all items presented in the study. Data indicated that younger adults recalled more than older adults under all conditions. However, both age groups had the highest recall under the haptic conditions.