Word-list-learning performance in younger and older adults: intra-individual performance variability and false memory.
Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn
; 14(1): 70-94, 2007 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-17164191
ABSTRACT
We investigated the word-list-learning performance of younger and older adults over 4 consecutive days at different times of day to study age-related differences in consistency of performance over time and the influence of circadian variation on performance. Eighteen younger (M age, 23.4 years) and 18 older (M age, 73.3 years) men and women participated. The start time of testing alternated between morning and early evening across the 4 days of testing. On each test day, participants learned a different list of 15 unrelated words over four learning trials. As expected, younger adults performed better than older adults on immediate recall, delayed recall, and recognition. Contrary to our expectations, time of day did not significantly influence recall or recognition performance in either the older or younger adults. Older adults did show a greater incidence of false memory (i.e., previously learned list intrusions in free recall and false alarms in recognition) than younger adults. Older adults also exhibited greater intra-individual performance variability on the measures of false memory across test days. This variability was not related to circadian variation. False memory and variability of performance have both been linked to frontal systems dysfunction. The findings presented here are consistent with the notion that changes in cognition with aging in part reflect age-related decline in frontal lobe function.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Aprendizagem por Associação de Pares
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Envelhecimento
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Individualidade
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Transtornos da Memória
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Memória de Curto Prazo
Limite:
Adult
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Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2007
Tipo de documento:
Article