Age-related priming effects in social judgments.

Abstract

Two experiments investigated adult age differences in the impact of previously activated (and thus easily accessible) trait-related information on judgments about people. The authors hypothesized that age-related declines in the efficiency of controlled processing mechanisms during adulthood would be associated with increased susceptibility to judgment biases associated with such information. In each study, different-aged adults made impression judgments about a target, and assimilation of these judgments to trait constructs activated in a previous, unrelated task were examined. Consistent with the authors' hypotheses, older adults were likely to form impressions that were biased toward the primed trait constructs. In contrast, younger adults exhibited greater awareness of the primed information and were more likely to correct for its perceived influence, especially when distinctive contextual cues regarding the source of the primes were available.

Understanding How Prior Knowledge Influences Memory in Older Adults

“…Age-related increases in false recognition were observed only when older adults could bring their prior knowledge to bear, namely, when the ambiguous figures had received familiar labels at study (see Simons et al, 2005, for converging evidence from semantic dementia patients). The literature is full of examples similar to this one, showing that prior knowledge can influence memory to a degree that is no longer facilitative (e.g., Arbuckle et al, 1994;Botwinick, 1984;Ceci & Tabor, 1981;Hess, McGee, Woodburn, & Bolstad, 1998;Labouvie-Vief & Schell, 1982;Radvansky, Copeland, & von Hippel, 2010).…”

Age differences in suggestibility to contradictions of demonstrated knowledge: the influence of prior knowledge

“…Following a lifetime of learning, older adults' knowledge is likely to be more accessible in memory than recent memories of specific events. Indeed, older adults are generally more vulnerable to proactive interference than are younger adults (Ebert & Anderson, 2009;Hess, McGee, Woodburn, & Bolstad, 1998;Loewenstein, Acevedo, Agron, & Duara, 2007). Thus, regardless of episodic memory failures, I argue that intact prior knowledge likely contributes to older adults' reduced suggestibility to misinformation that contradicts general knowledge, and the present work focuses on investigating that role.…”

Motivational Influences on Controlled Processing: Moderating Distractibility in Older Adults

“…This apparent weakness in the ability to sustain control over mental processes has been shown in a variety of contexts, including studies of attention (e.g., West, 1999), memory (e.g., Jacoby, 1999), text processing (e.g., Connelly et al, 1991), and social-cognitive functioning (e.g., Hess et al, 1998). Such findings are consistent with views of cognitive aging that hypothesize normative declines in the cognitive architecture underlying these functions (e.g., executive functions (West, 1996), processing resources (Craik, 1986), inhibitory processes (Hasher & Zacks, 1988)).…”