To address the question of whether cognitive plasticity varies by age and level of cognitive functioning in the older population, the authors used a self-guided retest paradigm to assess the basic forms of plasticity of 34 young-olds (M=74.4 years, range=70-79) and 34 oldest-olds (M=84.0 years, range=80-91), with half in each age group screened for high or low (midrange) level of cognitive functioning. As a whole, members of the sample represent about the upper two thirds of their age cohorts. Results show persistent, though age-reduced, learning in all samples and across all tests. However, age is not differentially "kinder" to the more able with respect to the age-graded decline in learning.

Consistent with their emphasis on emotional goals, older adults often exhibit a positivity bias in attention and memory relative to their young counterparts (i.e., a positivity effect). The current study sought to determine how this age-related positivity effect would impact intentional forgetting of emotional words, a process critical to efficient operation of memory. Using an item-based directed forgetting task, 36 young and 36 older adults studied a series of arousal-equivalent words that varied in valence (i.e., positive, negative, and neutral). Each word was followed by a cue to either remember or forget the word. A subsequent “tagging” recognition task required classification of items as to-be-remembered (TBR), to-be-forgotten (TBF), or new as a measure of directed forgetting and source attribution in participants' memory. Neither young nor older adults' intentional forgetting was affected by the valence of words. A goal-consistent valence effect did, however, emerge in older adults' source attribution performance. Specifically, older adults assigned more TBR-cues to positive words and more TBF-cues to negative words. Results are discussed in light of existing literature on emotion and directed forgetting as well as the socioemotional selectivity theory underlying the age-related positivity effect.

This study assessed plasticity of inhibition in older adults through examining retest practice effects in a six-session training paradigm using the Stroop task and the training-induced transfer effects to a range of cognitive measures. Fifty-six older adults (aged 60-84 years, mean = 71.05, standard deviation = 6.17) participated in this study. They were evenly assigned to one of four groups: summary feedback, individualized and adaptive feedback, no-feedback, or a no-contact control group. The results suggest that older adults are able to improve inhibition across retest sessions but unable to transfer the retest practice effects to other tasks. In addition, the improvement is not item specific and feedback does not appear to moderate the magnitude of the training benefits; however, feedback does appear to reduce interference variance across retest practice sessions.

We investigated retest learning (i.e., performance improvement through retest practice) in the absence of item-specific effects (i.e., learning through memorizing or becoming familiar with specific items) with older adults. Thirty-one older adults (ages 60-82 years, M = 71.10, SD = 6.27) participated in an eight-session self-guided retest program. To eliminate item-specific effects, parallel versions of representative psychometric measures for Inductive Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, and Visual Attention were developed and administered across retest sessions. The results showed substantial non-item-specific retest learning, even controlling for anxiety, suggesting that retest learning in older adults can occur at a more conceptual level.

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