Centre for Policy on Ageing



Younger and older jurors — the influence of environmental supports on memory performance and decision making in complex trials
Author(s)	Joseph M Fitzgerald
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 55B, no 6, November 2000
Pages	pp P323-P331
Keywords	Memory and Reminiscence ; Reasoning ; Law courts ; Age groups [elderly] ; Adults ; United States of America.
Annotation	Judicial instructions at US trials provide jurors with a framework for understanding legal concepts. An experiment involving younger (aged 19-35) and older (aged 55-75) adults who had watched a 2-hour video of a complex civil trial tested their free recall, recognition memory, source identification, and the accuracy of their verdicts. Both age groups provided more detail and cohesive accounts when they were given judicial instructions before the evidence. Other benefits of pre-instruction to memory and decision-making were limited to the older adults. Note-taking effects were generally limited, but were consistent across age groups. The results highlight the potential value of relatively simple instructions for improving cognitive performance in a real-world setting. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-010307206 A
Classmark	DB: DC: VYL: BB: SD: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.