A benefit of context reinstatement to recognition memory in aging: the role of familiarity processes

Abstract

Reinstatement of encoding context facilitates memory for targets in young and older individuals (e.g., a word studied on a particular background scene is more likely to be remembered later if it is presented on the same rather than a different scene or no scene), yet older adults are typically inferior at recalling and recognizing target-context pairings. This study examined the mechanisms of the context effect in normal aging. Age differences in word recognition by context condition (original, switched, none, new), and the ability to explicitly remember target-context pairings were investigated using word-scene pairs (Experiment 1) and word-word pairs (Experiment 2). Both age groups benefited from context reinstatement in item recognition, although older adults were significantly worse than young adults at identifying original pairings and at discriminating between original and switched pairings. In Experiment 3, participants were given a three-alternative forced-choice recognition task that allowed older individuals to draw upon intact familiarity processes in selecting original pairings. Performance was age-equivalent. Findings suggest that heightened familiarity associated with context reinstatement is useful for boosting recognition memory in aging. Dalton, 1993;Fernandez & Glenberg, 1985;Godden & Baddeley, 1975Smith, 1979Smith, , 1985Smith, , 1986 Smith, Glenber, & Bjork, 1978), or matching aspects of the stimulus presentation, such as the background color on which a target is shown (e.g., Dulsky, 1935;Murnane & Phelps, 1993, 1994Weiss & Margolius, 1954). A number of studies have demonstrated a positive effect of global context matching on memory recall, but the effect on recognition memory has been relatively inconsistent, with some studies reporting a context effect (e.g., Dalton, 1993;Geiselman & Bjork, 1980;Geiselman & Glenny, 1977;Murnane & Phelps, 1993, 1994Smith, 1986;Smith & Vela, 1992), and others not (e.g., Fernandez & Glenberg, 1985;Godden & Baddeley, 1980;Jacoby, 1983;Smith, 1986;Smith et al., 1978).In their recent study, Craik and Schloerscheidt (2011) found that context reinstatement was beneficial to recognition in older adults. Young and older participants were presented with object names (Experiment 1A) or pictures (Experiment 1B) superimposed on background scenes under instructions to make an association between the word/picture and

Hyper-binding only apparent under fully implicit test conditions.

“…Nevertheless, under fully implicit conditions, older adults recalled more preserved than disrupted pairs, replicating the original hyper-binding effect Weeks et al, 2016). These results add to a growing body of work suggesting that the binding process itself is preserved with age, in that older adults show preserved associative memory when tested in an implicit manner (Campbell et al, 2012;Dew & Giovanello, 2010;Salvato, Patai, & Nobre, 2016;Simon, Vaidya, Howard, & Howard, 2012;Ward, Maylor, Poirier, Korko, & Ruud, 2017). Older adults' well established associative deficit on explicit tests (Chalfonte & Johnson, 1996;Naveh-Benjamin, 2000;Old & Naveh-Benjamin, 2008) may depend more on impaired retrieval processes than on encoding (Cohn, Emrich, & Moscovitch, 2008;Cohn & Moscovitch, 2007;Dulas & Duarte, 2014), as suggested by the fact that age differences are eliminated when older adults are encouraged to use the same strategy at retrieval as encoding 3 However, we have been unable to replicate the Gopie et al study, and recently published a nonreplication study (Amer, Anderson, & Hasher, 2017).…”

Drawing compared to writing in a diary enhances recall of autobiographical memories

“…For example, a participant could have been playing a game of chess at their kitchen table, and then reminisced about and recalled this event at that exact same kitchen table. Therefore, the context reinstatement effects could be enhancing the level of detail, as well as the quality of visual imagery, re-experienced by the older adults (Fernández & Alonso, 2001;Smith & Vela, 2001;Ward et al, 2017). Younger adults, in contrast, were asked to complete the Recall phase of the experiment in the lab, which was a novel location.…”

Age and processing effects on perceptual and conceptual priming

“…Thus, the type of encoding was responsible for the emergence or elimination of a reliable age difference. Given evidence that older adults are impaired in semantic encoding (e.g., Eysenck, 1974 ; Morcom et al, 2003 ; Morcom & Rugg, 2004 ; see also Ward et al, 2017 ), it was predicted that age differences in priming would be larger when encoding engages participants with semantic features of stimuli, where it was reasoned that young adults would be at a processing advantage. However, older adults outperformed young adults at encoding and there was no evidence of semantic impairment.…”