In episodic memory tasks, associations are formed between items presented close together in time. The temporal context model (TCM) hypothesizes that this contiguity effect is a consequence of shared temporal context rather than temporal proximity per se. Using double-function lists of paired associates (e.g., A-B, B-C) presented in a random order, the authors examined associations between items that were not presented close together in time but that were presented in similar temporal contexts. After learning, across-pair associations fell off with distance in the list, as if subjects had integrated the pairs into a coherent memory structure. Within-pair associations (e.g., A-B) were strongly asymmetric favoring forward transitions; across-pair associations (e.g., A-C) showed no evidence of asymmetry. While this pattern of results presented a stern challenge for a heteroassociative mediated chaining model, TCM provided an excellent fit to the data. These findings suggest that contiguity effects in episodic memory do not reflect direct associations between items but rather a process of binding, encoding, and retrieval of a gradually changing representation of temporal context.

Older and younger participants learned single-function lists of paired associates with no contextual overlap (e.g., J-K, L-M) and double-function lists of paired associates consisting of chains of pairs (e.g., A-B, B-C). Although younger adults out-performed older adults on both pair types, there was a robust pair-type by age interaction. Evidence from intrusion analyses argues that older adults performed better than would be expected on the contextually overlapping double-function pairs because they were less subject to response competition for the double-function pairs. Younger adults made a larger proportion of backward and remote intrusions to double-function probes than did older adults. Thus, group differences in both correct recall probabilities and intrusion analysis suggest that backward and transitive associations are sensitive to aging. The results are discussed within the theoretical framework of the temporal context model and the hypothesis that older adults are impaired at forming new item-context associations.Normal aging is correlated with a decline in memory abilities across cognitive tasks. The generalized slowing hypothesis suggests this is because all information processing is similarly affected by age (e.g. Brinley, 1965;Cerella, 1985Cerella, , 1991Cerella, , 1994Salthouse, 1985Salthouse, , 1991Salthouse, , 1996. Rather than a global memory impairment, however, domain specific hypotheses argue that various task domains are differentially affected by age-mediated slowing. For example, episodic memory, specifically associative learning, is particularly vulnerable to the effects of age (Light, 1991). Older adults consistently demonstrate an associative deficit across study material and test paradigms, including word-word tests (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000; NavehBenjamin, Hussain, Guez, & Bar-On, 2003), word-context tests (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000;Naveh-Benjamin et al., 2003), picture-picture tests (Naveh-Benjamin et al., 2003), patternlocation tests (Collie, Myers, Schnirman, Wood, & Maruff, 2002), and name-face tests (NavehBenjamin, Guez, Kilb, & Reedy, 2004). An age-related associative deficit has also been observed across testing methodologies, including tests of cued-recall (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000;Kliegl & Lindenberger, 1993), yes-no recognition (Naveh-Benjamin, 2000), forcedchoice recognition (Naveh-Benjamin et al., 2004), and associative recognition (Bastin & Van der Linden, 2006;Castel & Craik, 2003;Light, Patterson, Chung, & Healy, 2004;Healy, Light, & Chung, 2005;Prull, Dawes, Martin, Rosenberg, & Light, 2006). Additionally, in delayed and immediate free recall the temporal contiguity of study items exerted a weaker influence on older adults' recall transitions (Kahana, Howard, Zaromb, & Wingfield, 2002), suggesting that associations formed between nearby list items were weaker for older adults.The goal of this experiment is to examine age-mediated associative deficits in paired-associate learning (PAL), an episodic memory task in which pairs of unrelated items, e.g. ABSENCE-HOLLOW, are pre...

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