Aging predicts decline in explicit and implicit memory: a life-span study

Ward, Emma V. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2076-832X, Berry, Christopher J., Shanks, David R., Moller, Petter L. and Czsiser, Enida (2020) Aging predicts decline in explicit and implicit memory: a life-span study. Psychological Science, 31 (9) . pp. 1071-1083. ISSN 0956-7976 [Article] (Published online first) (doi:10.1177/0956797620927648)

Preview

PDF - Published version (with publisher's formatting) Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (289kB) | Preview

Abstract

Explicit memory declines with age, but age effects on implicit memory are debated. This issue is important because if implicit memory is age-invariant, it may support effective interventions in individuals experiencing memory decline. This study overcame several methodological issues in past research to clarify age effects on implicit memory (priming) and their relationship to explicit memory (recognition, source memory). It aimed to (1) recruit a large lifespan sample of participants (N=1072) during a residency at the Science Museum, London, (2) employ an implicit task that is unaffected by explicit contamination, and (3) systematically manipulate depth-of-processing and attention to assess their contribution to age effects. Participants witnessed a succession of overlapping colored objects, attending to one colour stream and ignoring the other, and at test identified masked objects before judging whether they were previously attended, unattended, or new. Age significantly predicted decline in both explicit and implicit memory for attended objects.

Actions (login required)

View Item

Statistics

DownloadsShow export options

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Activity Overview

6 month trend

161Downloads

6 month trend

327Hits

Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.