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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Aging and interference in verbal working memory | | Author(s) | Trey Hedden, Denise Park |
| Journal title | Psychology and Aging, vol 16, no 4, December 2001 |
| Pages | pp 666-681 |
| Keywords | Memory and Reminiscence ; Cognitive processes ; Mental speed ; Age groups [elderly] ; Young adults [20-25] ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | According to inhibitory views of working memory, when compared with young adults, older people should have particular problems deleting irrelevant information from working memory, leading to greater interference effects. The authors investigated this hypothesis by using variations in an A-B, C-D retroactive interference paradigm in working memory with young and older people. A recognition measure of memory was used, that assessed both accuracy and reaction time. The primary finding was that seniors consistently exhibited proportionally greater retroactive interference effects compared with young adults, when interfering word pairs that had been read had to be rejected. Patterns of recognition and reaction time data suggested that older people's activation of target material is similar to that for young adults, but they experience sustained activation of irrelevant material that has entered working memory. Theoretical implications of these findings for inhibitory deficit and source memory deficit accounts of cognitive ageing are discussed. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-020206210 A |
| Classmark | DB: DA: DG: BB: SD6: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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