Differential effects of proactive and retroactive interference in value-directed remembering for younger and older adults.

Abstract

We are often presented with more information than we can remember, and we must selectively focus on the most valuable information to maximize memory utility. Most tests of value-based memory involve encoding and then being tested on a list of recently studied information. Thus, people are focused on memory for the current list and are encouraged to forget information from earlier lists. However, prior learning can influence later memory, in both interfering and beneficial ways, and there may be age-related differences in how younger and older adults are influenced by the costs and benefits of prior learning and interference. In the present study, we presented younger and older adults with words paired with point values to remember for a later test but rather than asking participants to only recall words from the juststudied list, participants were asked to recall all studied words on each recall test. Results revealed that younger adults were more likely to recall words from previous lists than older adults, indicating that older adults were more susceptible to retroactive interference. Moreover, although selectivity is often preserved in older adults when study-test cycles are independent, a buildup of proactive interference arising from previously studied words reduced memory selectivity in older adults. Thus, when presented with more information than one can remember, younger adults are better at combating interference and recalling valuable information, while older adults may engage in selective forgetting of prior lists to enhance a "present-focused" form of memory, possibly as a result of impaired inhibitory control. Public Significance StatementWhen presented with more information than one can remember, younger adults are better at combating interference and recalling valuable information, while older adults may engage in selective forgetting of previously learned information to enhance a "present-focused" form of memory.

Value-directed memory selectivity relies on goal-directed knowledge of value structure prior to encoding in young and older adults.

“…Participants were recruited using Prime Panels from CloudResearch (www.cloudresearch.com). Like other online data collection platforms, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, Prime Panels allows for researchers to target and collect large, diverse samples of young and older adult participants in a way that is both time and resource efficient (e.g., Chandler et al, 2019; Huff & Tingley, 2015; Murphy & Castel, 2022a; Silaj et al, 2021; Whatley et al, 2020). Upon consenting to participate in the experiment, young and older adults were randomly assigned to one of three between-subjects conditions: preencoding, postencoding, and no instruction (control).…”

“…Thus, at least in young adults, there is evidence that reward at encoding, but not at retrieval, enhances memory for detailed events-likely driven by an attentional processing mechanism (da Silva Castanheira et al, 2022). Older adults, due to deficits in cognitive control, may be particularly at risk in situations when interference can influence memory for high-value information (Murphy & Castel, 2022a), such as when learning multiple lists where the value is only revealed after the initial encoding session. Interference may be particularly relevant if the value is only learned following a delay after encoding, as for older adults especially, the presence of interfering material could impair the binding of values with the specific information learned earlier.…”

“…This may be due to an associative memory deficit in older adults (e.g., Castel & Craik, 2003; Naveh-Benjamin et al, 2007) that impairs the linking of items and their associated value. Hence, as older adults often display deficits in remembering associations, such as names and faces (Naveh-Benjamin et al, 2004), and may exhibit heightened forgetting and interference from prior valuable information (Murphy & Castel, 2022a), older adults may have difficulty learning value status if it is revealed after a delay in time.…”

Age-related differences in memory when offloading important information.

“…Older adults ( n = 35; age range: 65–83; M age = 72.14, SD age = 4.91; 21 female, 14 male; 2 Black, 33 White; 6 high school graduate, 5 some college but no degree, 6 associate’s degree, 11 bachelor’s degree; 7 graduate degree [master’s, doctorate, etc.]) were recruited from Amazon’s Cloud Research (Chandler et al, 2019), a website that allows users to complete small tasks for pay (which we have used in prior work, e.g., Murphy & Castel, 2022b; Murphy et al, 2023). Participants were all located in the United States.…”

Younger and older adults’ strategic use of associative memory and metacognitive control when learning foreign vocabulary words of varying importance.

“…Participants in such tasks are told that their goal is to maximize their score, which is calculated by adding the points associated with the words they recalled. Substantial work suggests that despite age-related declines in memory (e.g., Craik & Salthouse, 2011;Kausler, 1994;Light, 1991), older adults can remember high-value information as well as younger adults, but their memory for lowvalue words is impaired (Castel et al, 2002(Castel et al, , 2007(Castel et al, , 2012Murphy & Castel, 2022c, 2022d; see also Knowlton & Castel, 2022;Whatley et al, 2021).…”