Centre for Policy on Ageing



State-dependent learning in older and younger adults
Author(s)	Carol J Schramke, Russell M Bauer
Journal title	Psychology and Aging, vol 12, no 2, June 1997
Pages	pp 255-262
Keywords	Learning capacity ; Health [elderly] ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Cognitive processes ; Young adults [20-25] ; Age groups [elderly] ; United States of America.
Annotation	In this study, the authors use a state-dependent learning task to explore the influence of exercise on memory performance in younger and older adults. State was manipulated by having participants rest or exercise for 5 minutes, followed by exposure to three learning trials of a 20-item word list. After a 20-min delay, participants engaged in either the same or the opposite activity, followed by free recall, cued recall, and recognition tests. Heart rate, blood pressure and self-report of distress measures verified that the experimental conditions influenced the participants' physiological state, but the distractor tasks did not. There was no difference in learning that was due to the initial exercise condition, but both age groups showed greater recall when state was the same before learning and delayed recall. This supports research suggesting that older adults spontaneously use contextual information to facilitate recall.
Accession Number	CPA-971120255 A
Classmark	DE: CC: DB: DA: SD6: BB: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.