Cognitive ageing

Question 1

What is short-term memory?

Answer 1

A passive holding area for verbal/visuospatial info

Question 2

What test do we use to investigate STM storage?

Answer 2

Forward digit span task

Question 3

How does STM storage change with age?

Answer 3

Craik (1977) - there are small declines in STM storage with age

Question 4

What is working memory?

Answer 4

A mental workspace for simultaneously holding and manipulating info

Question 5

What process requires WM?

Answer 5

Concurrent storage and reorganisation of material requires WM

Question 6

There are age differences on tasks that require active processing of info in STM (vs. passive storage) (e.g. backward digit span, alpha span task). How do older adults perform on these tasks compared to younger adults?

Answer 6

Craik (1986) – older adults perform worse on these tasks than younger adults

Question 7

What is the WM capacity like in older adults?

Answer 7

Older adults have reduced WM capacity – there is a reduction in the amount of info they can store and process concurrently

Question 8

How do older adults perform on tasks that require simultaneous storage and processing of info?

Answer 8

Older adults have problems on tasks requiring simultaneous storage and processing of info, e.g.

• mental arithmetic
• following complex directions

Question 9

What is procedural memory?

Answer 9

Memory for well-learned skills and procedures

Question 10

What happens to procedural memory with age?

Answer 10

Procedural memory is generally preserved in healthy ageing

Question 11

In relation to procedural memory, what are older adults often impaired at?

Answer 11

Older adults are often impaired at acquiring new motor skills
- depends on the complexity of the task though

Question 12

Breitenstein et al. (1996) compared younger and older adults on 2 tracking tasks (simple and complex). What did they find?

Answer 12

Breitenstein et al. (1996)

Simple tracking task → older adults were less accurate than younger but showed the same rates of improvement

Complex tracking task (mirror-reversed) → older adults were less accurate than younger AND slower to improve

Question 13

What is implicit memory?

Answer 13

Memory without conscious awareness

Question 14

How do we measure implicit memory?

Answer 14

Priming tasks

Question 15

What is priming?

Answer 15

The influence of previous experience of a stimulus on later processing of that stimulus

Question 16

In what types of tasks is priming involved?

Answer 16

• stem completion tasks

- fragment completion tasks

Question 17

What do pps do in stem completion tasks and what are the typical results?

Answer 17

1. Pps are presented with lists of words, including e.g. “chase”
2. Pps complete word stems with the first word that comes to mind: e.g. ch___

–> pps will be more likely to complete the stem with ‘chase’

Question 18

Which type of memory is usually more affected by ageing - implicit or explicit?

Answer 18

Explicit memory

Question 19

Light and Singh (1987) compared implicit and explicit memory in younger and older adults. How did they test this and what did they find?

Answer 19

They tested adults’ memory with stem completion tasks, e.g.

Implicit: “complete with the first word that comes to mind”
Explicit: “complete with a word from the list you just saw”

–> found no age difference on the implicit test but older adults were impaired when recalling on the explicit test

Question 20

Some researchers did a meta-anaysis comparing semantic priming effects on younger and older adults’ lexical decision skills and pronunciation latency.

Who did this study and what did they find?

Answer 20

Laver and Burke (1993)

–> there were larger effects for older than younger (i.e. older performed worse)

Question 21

What does Laver and Burke’s (1993) study on semantic priming support?

Answer 21

Laver and Burke’s (1993) study supports ageing models that claim that older adults have process-specific slowing, rather than general cognitive slowing

Question 22

What is episodic memory?

Answer 22

Conscious recollection of a previous event/experience

Question 23

How might researchers test episodic memory?

Answer 23

• recall a list of words

- decide whether a word has appeared before or not (recognition)

Question 24

Is episodic memory impaired with age?

Answer 24

Yes

Question 25

What are older adults less likely to do, in relation to tasks related to episodic memory?

Answer 25

Older adults are less likely to... - recall specific details of a story they are told - recall lists of words/sentences (Light and Singh, 1987) - remember where and when an event happened

Question 26

What is the process of remembering where and when an event happened called?

Answer 26

Source monitoring

Question 27

How do older adults perform on tasks that require them to distinguish between different sources of self-generated events?

Answer 27

Older adults may be less able to distinguish between different sources of self-generated events - e.g. whether they have said something or just thought it

Question 28

Younger and older adults learnt a list of words for a later recall test --> older adults recalled less items and were more likely to repeat the same items during the recall test Who did this study?

Answer 28

Koriat, Ben-Zur and Sheffer (1988)

Question 29

Older adults are LESS/MORE impaired at remembering whether they have seen something before or not.

Answer 29

Older adults are MORE impaired at remembering whether they have seen something before or not.

Question 30

What did Cohen and Faulker (1989) find that older adults had difficulty remembering?

Answer 30

Cohen and Faulkner (1989) – older adults have difficulties remembering whether they have performed an action or just imagined it

Question 31

Older adults have a general problem remembering the source of events/info. What is this called?

Answer 31

Source amnesia = the inability to remember the source of events/info

Question 32

Older adults have problems remembering what they have said/done AND also have problems...

Answer 32

...remembering what others have done (especially who did what)

Question 33

Younger and older adults watched clips of different actors doing different actions. Who did this study and what actions did the actors do?

Answer 33

Kersten et al. (2008) Actor A - opens a jar Actor B - staples papers together Actor C - puts on headphones

Question 34

What did Kersten et al. (2008) do in their recognition study?

Answer 34

Kersten et al. (2008) had pps watch clips of different actors performing different actors, then gave them a recognition test. Pps either... a) saw an actor doing their seen action (old pairing, e.g. Actor A opens a jar) b) saw an actor doing a different seen action (novel pairing, e.g. Actor A puts on headphones) Kersten et al. (2008) asked pps "did this Actor perform this action?"

Question 35

What did Kersten et al. (2008) find in their recognition study?

Answer 35

Older adults had problems distinguishing between old and novel pairings - they were more likely to attribute an action to the wrong actor

Question 36

Older adults have problems remembering what they have said/done and what others have done. What does this have implications for?

Answer 36

This has implications for eye-witness testimony | - older adults may be less reliable witnesses

Question 37

Older adults may be prone to the effect of misleading info? Who did a study on this?

Answer 37

Mitchell et al. (2003)

Question 38

What were the stages of Mitchell et al.'s (2003) study on the effect of misleading info?

Answer 38

1. Pps witnessed an event on video (e.g. a burglary) 2. Pps were questioned about the event - some questions contained a 'fact' that didn't actually happen 3. Pps were given a list of statements about the event

Question 39

What were the pps in Mitchell et al.'s (2003) study on misleading info asked to do?

Answer 39

Pps were asked "where did you encounter this info?" Pps had to decide if they had seen the info... a) in the video b) in the questions c) neither the video or the questions d) both the video and the questions

Question 40

What did Mitchell et al. (2003) find in their study on misleading info?

Answer 40

Older adults were more likely to remember 'seeing' events in the video that had only been suggested to them in the questions = misattribution Older adults were less able to attribute info to the correct source Older adults were less confident in their correct attributions than young adults but more confident in their misattributions

Question 41

How does age affect different episodic memory tasks?

Answer 41

Some episodic memory tasks are affected by ageing more than others

Question 42

Craik (1986) claimed that this is because episodic memory tasks differ in the extent to which they provide...

Answer 42

...external support

Question 43

What is 'external support'?

Answer 43

External info or cues that can guide memory processes at encoding/retrieval

Question 44

How do recognition tests provide external support at retrieval?

Answer 44

Recognition tests provide external support at retrieval because the word is re-presented to the pp (vs. free recall tests)

Question 45

What does Craik's Theory of Cognitive Ageing propose?

Answer 45

When a task provides a low level of external support, there is more need for self-initiated processing → this demands attentional resources

Question 46

According to Craik's Theory of Cognitive Ageing, how will older adults perform on tasks that require self-initiated processing?

Answer 46

Older adults have less attentional resources → they will be less able to carry out self-initiated processing → they will perform worse on tasks that require self-initiated processing

Question 47

What does a supportive task environment do (i.e. environment with external support) and how might it help older adults?

Answer 47

A supportive task environment that helps elaborate encoding/guides retrieval can offset the effects of reduced attentional resources

Question 48

According to Craik's Theory of Cognitive Ageing, what age differences would be found on... - implicit memory tasks - recognition tests - recall tests - cued recall tests - free recall tests

Answer 48

- implicit memory is generally intact in older adults - age differences are smaller on recognition tests that recall tests - age differences are smaller on cued recall tests than free recall tests

Question 49

Who provides evidence that age differences are smaller on recognition tests that recall tests?

Answer 49

White and Cunningham (1982)

Question 50

Who provides evidence that age differences are smaller on cued recall tests than free recall tests?

Answer 50

Craik et al. (1987)

Question 51

What is prospective memory?

Answer 51

Remembering intentions (e.g. returning a library book)

Question 52

What are the stages of prospective memory/remembering an intention?

Answer 52

1. Form the intention to carry out an action later (encode what you need to do and when ← this acts as a retrieval cue/context for the intention) 2. Retrieval interval (retain the intention whilst engaged in other activities) 3. Retrieve intention (when the retrieval cue/context arrives, you must realise that you have something to do → there is a high demand for self-initiated processing at this stage) 4. Initiate and carry out the action

Question 53

How might researchers study prospective memory?

Answer 53

- field studies | - lab studies

Question 54

What might researchers do in field studies to measure prospective memory?

Answer 54

Pps can go about their daily lives and try to remember to do something for the experimenter

Question 55

What might researchers do in lab studies to measure prospective memory?

Answer 55

Pps are occupied with an activity (e.g. a word rating task) and have to make a response (e.g. a key press) when a cue word appears The cue word arrives and the pp must interrupt their current activity and perform the intention without any explicit reminder

Question 56

What are time-based prospective memory tasks?

Answer 56

Must perform an action at a particular time - must remember to check the time periodically during the retention interval - provides low external support - has a high demand for self-initiated processing

Question 57

What are event-based prospective memory tasks?

Answer 57

Must perform an action when a particular external event occurs - provides an external cue to prompt retrieval

Question 58

Younger and older adults did a time-based OR event-based general knowledge task (prospective memory task). Who did this study and what did pps have to do in the time-based 7 event-based tasks?

Answer 58

Einstein et al. (1995) Time-based: pps had to press ENTER every 10 mins Event-based: pps had to press ENTER whenever they saw the (cue) word 'president'

Question 59

What did Einstein et al. (1995) find in their time- and event-based study?

Answer 59

There was little age differences on the event-based task Both groups found the time-based task more difficult (especially older adults)

Question 60

Why did older adults perform better on the event-based task than the time-based task in Einstein et al.'s (1995) study?

Answer 60

The event-based task provided an external cue that could offset the effects of impaired self-initiated processing in older adults

Question 61

What is a pro of Craik's Theory of Cognitive Ageing?

Answer 61

There is evidence from lab studies that prospective memory is consistent with Craik's general theory - age differences tend to be biggest on memory tasks that make high demands for self-initiated processing

Question 62

What is a criticism of Craik's Theory of Cognitive Ageing?

Answer 62

They hierarchy needs refining | - not all prospective memory tasks demand self-initiated processing or show an age-related decline

Question 63

Older adults tend to perform better / as well as younger adults on real word prospective memory tasks. Older adults are more likely to...

Answer 63

Moscovitch (1982) - call the experimenter at the correct time McBride et al. (2013) - send a postcard to the experimenter on time Rendell and Thomson (1999) - log the time on a personal organiser

Question 64

Older adults are often worse than younger adults in the lab (especially on PM tasks that demand high self-initiated processing) BUT older are often better than younger adults on real-world tasks (daily routine, motivation, conscientiousness). What is this paradox called?

Answer 64

Age-related paradox

Question 65

What is semantic memory?

Answer 65

LTM for facts, general knowledge, word meanings, etc.

Question 66

What happens to semantic memory with age? Who found support for this?

Answer 66

Park et al. (1996) – semantic memory is generally preserved/enhanced in healthy ageing

Question 67

What 'state' do older adults experience more often than younger adults?

Answer 67

Older adults experience more 'tip-of-the-tongue' states than younger adults

Question 68

What is 'tip of the tongue'?

Answer 68

A temporary inability to retrieve a known word

Question 69

What type of information do older adults find particularly difficult to remember?

Answer 69

Older adults find names particularly difficult to remember

Question 70

What study supports the idea that older adults find names particularly hard to remember and that older adults experience more tip of the tongue states?

Answer 70

Maylor (1990) – 50-70 y/o were shown famous faces and given 50 seconds to name them --> with age, ToT frequency increased and the no. of correct answers decreased

Question 71

Burke et al. (1991) suggests that the difficulty older adults have remembering names may be due to...

Answer 71

...impaired activation of the phonological formation