scholarly journals Effects of Aging on General and Specific Memory for Impressions

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan J. Limbert ◽  
Jennifer A. Coleman ◽  
Angela Gutchess
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Similar Extent ◽  
Older Adulthood ◽  
Testing Conditions ◽  
Specific Memory ◽  
Effects Of Aging ◽  
Retrieval From Memory ◽  
Better Than

Despite the number of documented declines in memory with age, memory for socioemotional information can be preserved into older adulthood. These studies assessed whether memory for character information could be preserved with age, and how the general versus specific nature of the information tested affected outcomes. We hypothesized that memory for general impressions would be preserved with age, but that memory for specific details would be impaired. In two experiments, younger and older adults learned character information about individuals characterized as positive, neutral, or negative. Participants then retrieved general impressions and specific information for each individual. The testing conditions in Experiment 2 discouraged deliberate recall. In Experiment 1, we found that younger performed better than older adults on both general and specific memory measures. Although age differences in memory for specific information persisted in Experiment 2, we found that younger and older adults remembered general impressions to a similar extent when testing conditions encouraged the use of “gut impressions” rather than deliberate retrieval from memory. We conclude that aging affects memory for specific character information, but memory for general impressions can be age-equivalent. Furthermore, there is no evidence for a positivity bias or differences in the effects of valence on memory across the age groups.

Age Differences in Source Monitoring and Referent Discrimination

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trinidad Ruiz-Gallego-Largo ◽  
Teresa Simón ◽  
Aurora G. Suengas
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Source Monitoring ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reality Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Framework ◽  
Effects Of Aging ◽  
Two Age Groups

In contrast to previous studies which addressed separately memory for source and referent, the present experiment analyzes the effects of aging on memory for both, source and referent. The experiment simulated a conversation between two people exchanging descriptors of themselves and the other speaker (e.g., “I am helpful,” “you are capable”). Participants (N = 60) were divided into two age groups: younger (M = 23.47 years old, SD = 2.37), older (M = 70.30 years old, SD = 3.73). Recall, recognition, and accuracy in identifying source (e.g., “who said helpful?”) and referent (e.g., “about whom was capable said?”) were analyzed. Younger and older adults recalled and recognized equally well information read by the experimenter about herself, but only young adults showed better memory for the descriptors they read about themselves. Older adults were impaired in source monitoring, but not in reference discrimination. Normal referent discrimination in older adults is attributed to the fact that the referent forms part of the content of the episode, whereas who spoke it is part of its context, and older adults tend to show greater deficits in context than in content memory. These results are explained within the source and reality monitoring framework.

scholarly journals I know your face but can’t remember your name: Age-related differences in the FNAME-12NL

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Enriquez-Geppert ◽  
J F Flores-Vázquez ◽  
M Lietz ◽  
M Garcia-Pimenta ◽  
P Andrés
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Effects Of Aging

Abstract Objective The Face-Name Associative Memory test (FNAME) has recently received attention as a test for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. So far, however, there has been no systematic investigation of the effects of aging. Here, we aimed to assess the extent to which the FNAME performance is modulated by normal ageing. Method In a first step, we adapted the FNAME material to the Dutch population. In a second step, younger (n = 29) and older adults (n = 29) were compared on recall and recognition performance. Results Significant age effects on name recall were observed after the first exposure of new face-name pairs: younger adults remembered eight, whereas older adults remembered a mean of four out of twelve names. Although both age groups increased the number of recalled names with repeated face-name exposure, older adults did not catch up with the performance of the younger adults, and the age-effects remained stable. Despite of that, both age groups maintained their performance after a 30-min delay. Considering recognition, no age differences were demonstrated, and both age groups succeeded in the recognition of previously shown faces and names when presented along with distractors. Conclusions This study presents for the first time the results of different age groups regarding cross-modal associative memory performance on the FNAME. The recall age effects support the hypothesis of age-related differences in associative memory. To use the FNAME as an early cognitive biomarker, further subscales are suggested to increase sensitivity and specificity in the clinical context.

The Effects of Animation on the Guessability of Universal Healthcare Symbols for Middle-Aged and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872082110609
Author(s):  
Hao Chen ◽  
Chao Liu ◽  
Szu-Erh Hsu ◽  
Ding-Hau Huang ◽  
Chia-Yi Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Universal Healthcare ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Symbol Comprehension ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Middle Aged Adults ◽  
Better Than

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate whether animation can help to improve the comprehension of universal healthcare symbols for middle-aged and older adults. Background The Hablamos Juntos (HJ) healthcare symbol system is a set of widely used universal healthcare symbols that were developed in the United States. Some studies indicated that HJ healthcare symbols are not well-understood by users in non-English-speaking areas. Other studies found that animations can improve users’ comprehension of complex symbols. Thus, we wanted to test whether animation could help to improve users’ comprehension of HJ symbols. Methods The participants included 40 middle-aged and 40 older adults in Taiwan. We redesigned the 12 HJ symbols into three visual formats—static, basic animation, and detailed animation—and compared them to find which best improved the participants’ guessability scores. Results (1) Middle-aged adults’ comprehension of static and basic animated symbols was significantly better than that of older adults, but there was no significant difference in the guessability scores between the two age groups in terms of detailed animated symbols; (2) In general, both basic animation and detailed animation significantly improved the guessability score, but the effect with detailed animation was significantly greater than that with basic animation; (3) Older women were more receptive to detailed animation and showed better guessing performance. Conclusion Detailed animation contains more details and provides a more complete explanation of the concept of the static symbols, helping to improve the comprehension of HJ symbols for middle-aged and older adult users. Application Our findings provide a reference for the possibility of new style symbol design in the digital and aging era, which can be applied to improve symbol comprehension.

scholarly journals Older adults generalize their movements across walking contexts more than young during gradual and abrupt split-belt walking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yashar Aucie ◽  
Harrison Matthew Harker ◽  
Carly Sombric ◽  
Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Robotic Arm ◽  
Training Device ◽  
Critical Aspect ◽  
Overground Walking ◽  
Small Perturbations ◽  
Better Than

Generalization of movements from experienced to novel situations is a critical aspect of motor learning. It has been demonstrated that the training period when a movement is learned influences the movement's generalization to untrained situations. However, little is known about how healthy aging affects these processes. For example, young adults exhibit greater generalization of movements learned on a device (e.g. split-belt treadmill or robotic arm) to movements without it (e.g, overground walking or unconstrained reaching) when participants experience small vs. large perturbations on the training device. Here, we investigated whether a similar effect would be observed in older adults. To this end, we compared the generalization of split-belt adaptation to overground walking in older (75.9 +/- 4.8 years old) and young adults (24.7 +/- 5.9 years old) when adapted gradually (i.e., small perturbations) vs. abruptly (i.e., large perturbations). We found that both age groups adapted more to the abrupt condition compared to the gradual condition, which resulted in greater adaptation effects (i.e., aftereffects) on the treadmill in the abrupt than the gradual groups. We also found that older adults generalize more than young adults, regardless of the perturbation schedule (i.e., gradual or abrupt). Our results suggest that abrupt perturbations during adaptation do not limit the generalization of movement in older adults -perhaps because they are more likely to attribute them to their own faulty movements. These results suggest that large perturbations are better than small when training older clinical populations since abrupt disturbances would lead to more adaptation and generalization of corrected movements in older people.

scholarly journals Audiovisual English /r/−/l/ Identification Training for Japanese-Speaking Adults and Children

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Yasuaki Shinohara
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Auditory Discrimination ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Identification Accuracy ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Similar Extent ◽  
Testing Conditions ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Single Modality

Purpose This study tested the hypothesis that audiovisual training benefits children more than it does adults and that it improves Japanese-speaking children's English /r/−/l/ perception to a native-like level. Method Ten sessions of audiovisual English /r/−/l/ identification training were conducted for Japanese-speaking adults and children. Assessments were made of age effects on the increase in identification accuracy in three testing conditions (audiovisual, visual only, and audio only) and auditory discrimination of the primary acoustic cue (F3 frequency). Results The results showed that both adults and children increased their identification accuracy in the audiovisual condition more than in the single-modality conditions (visual only and audio only). Their improvement in the visual-only condition was larger than that in the audio-only condition. Japanese-speaking adults and children improved their primary acoustic cue (F3) sensitivity to a similar extent. In addition, their identification improvement in the audiovisual condition was positively correlated with those in the audio-only and visual-only conditions. The improvement in the audio-only condition was also positively correlated with that in the visual-only condition and with primary acoustic cue sensitivity. Conclusion It was unclear whether children had an advantage over adults in improving their identification accuracy, but both age groups improved their auditory and visual perception of the English /r/−/l/ contrast and showed additive effects in the multisensory (i.e., audiovisual) condition.

scholarly journals A Framework for Levels of Specificity in Episodic Memory: Converging Insights from Response Accuracy and Subjective Confidence Ratings in Young and Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel R. Greene ◽  
Moshe Naveh-Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Old Adult ◽  
Subjective Confidence

We provide support for the theoretical framework and empirical findings that associations in episodic memory can be retrieved from multiple levels of specificity and that adult aging is associated with declines in the ability to retrieve associations at specific levels of representation (Greene & Naveh-Benjamin, 2020). Young and old adult participants in two experiments – one in-person and one online – studied face-scene pairs and then completed an Intact/Recombined associative recognition test, which featured test pairs that were the same as original pairs, similar to those pairs at a highly specific level, similar at a broader level, or completely dissimilar. Participants also rated their confidence in their decisions. Results of measures of both memory accuracy and subjective confidence reports were similar across both experiments and age groups and showed that overall memory performance scaled with the amount of specificity needed to be retrieved, and that older adults were especially impaired in distinguishing highly similar foils. Moreover, confidence-accuracy analysis showed that participants were best able to calibrate their confidence when less specific information was needed in order to perform well, but these calibrations worsened at higher levels of specific retrieval, especially among older adults. The results indicate that episodic memory can be accessed on a continuum of specificity, providing empirical support for a levels of specificity framework, as part of a specificity principle of memory (e.g., Surprenant and Neath, 2009), and in line with the effort to identify universal invariants of natural phenomena, which are somewhat scarce in psychology.

scholarly journals Age Differences in Age Stereotypes

GeroPsych ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara De Paula Couto ◽  
Ronja Ostermeier ◽  
Klaus Rothermund
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young People ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Life Domains ◽  
Old People ◽  
Age Stereotypes ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Better Than

Abstract. We examined the domain-specific views of young and old people held by young (18–30 years, n = 278) and older adults (60–85 years, n = 289) in Germany, the USA, and India. Views about old and young people differed between life domains but were mostly similar across age groups and countries. Older adults in the USA and Germany – but not in India – held slightly less negative views about old people than did young people in some domains, possibly indicating a projection of better-than-expected own aging experiences of older adults into their in-group stereotypes in Western countries. The findings of our study can be explained by socialization processes, supporting mostly a developmental perspective regarding the acquisition and endorsement of age stereotypes.

Motivated Memory for What Matters Most

2021 ◽  
pp. 40-65
Author(s):  
Mary C. Whatley ◽  
Dillon H. Murphy ◽  
Katie M. Silaj ◽  
Alan D. Castel
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Older Adulthood ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Motivational Influences ◽  
What Matters

Aging is associated with declines in cognitive functioning and memory; however, research has shown that older adults can and do compensate for these declines in a variety of ways. This chapter discusses various theories of motivational shifts in older adulthood, older adults’ ability to selectively remember important information, and the importance of prior knowledge in the ability to compensate for declines in memory and cognition as a result of aging. Older adults can also use their metacognitive awareness to engage in strategies to improve memory for goal-specific information by selectively allocating attentional resources to what is most important. Intrinsic motivational influences on memory and cognition, such as emotion and curiosity, are also discussed. The chapter presents an overview of how metacognition, curiosity, emotion, goals, and strategic encoding can bias and enhance memory selectivity such that older adults are often tuned to remember what is most important.

scholarly journals Effects of Aging on the Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Recollection of Memories Encoded by Social Interactions With Persons in the Same and Different Age Groups

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eri Tsuruha ◽  
Takashi Tsukiura
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Age Group ◽  
New Words ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Successful Retrieval ◽  
Effects Of Aging ◽  
Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus

Memories related to ingroup members are remembered more accurately than those related to outgroup members. However, little is known about the age-dependent differences in neural mechanisms underlying the retrieval of memories shared with ingroup or outgroup members that are categorized by age-group membership. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated this issue. Healthy young and older adults participated in a 2-day experiment. On the first day outside fMRI, participants were presented with words by unfamiliar persons in movie clips and exchanged each word with persons belonging to the same age group (SAG) or different age group (DAG). On the second day during fMRI, participants were randomly presented with learned and new words one by one, and they judged whether each word had been encoded with either SAG or DAG members or neither. fMRI results demonstrated that an age-dependent decrease in successful retrieval activation of memories presented by DAG was identified in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and hippocampus, whereas with memories presented by SAG, an age-dependent decrease in activation was not found in any regions. In addition, an age-dependent decrease in functional connectivity was significant between the hippocampus/ATL and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) during the successful retrieval of memories encoded with the DAG people. The “other”-related mechanisms including the hippocampus, ATL, and pSTS with memories learned with the outgroup members could decrease in older adults, whereas with memories learned with the ingroup members, the “self”-related mechanisms could be relatively preserved in older adults.

Suicide in older adults: differences between the young-old, middle-old, and oldest old

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1297-1306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Wen Koo ◽  
Kairi Kõlves ◽  
Diego De Leo
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Older Adulthood ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Plastic Bag ◽  
Potential Risk Factors ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Young Old

ABSTRACTBackground:In the limited research into suicides in older adults, they have been treated as a homogenous group without distinguishing between different age groups. This study aimed to compare differences in sociodemographic variables, recent life events, and mental and physical illnesses between three age groups within older adults who died by suicide: young-old (65–74 years), middle-old (75–84 years), and oldest old (85 years and over) in Queensland, Australia, during the years 2000–2012 (N = 978).Methods:The Queensland Suicide Register was utilized for the analysis. Annual suicide rates were calculated. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and χ2 tests for trend were calculated to examine differences between the three groups.Results:Suicide rates were increasing with age for males, but not for females. Hanging and firearms were the predominant methods of suicides. However, suffocation by plastic bag and drowning as suicide methods increased with age, in contrast firearms and explosives decreased with age. Overall, psychiatric problems, suicidal behavior, legal and financial stressors, and relationship problems decreased significantly with age, meanwhile physical conditions and bereavement increased with age.Conclusion:Suicide across older adulthood is not a homogenous phenomenon. Our findings showed significant differences in the prevalence of potential risk factors within the three different age groups considered. To prevent suicide in older adults would require targeting specific factors for each subgroup while using holistic and comprehensive approaches.

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