Stereotype threat reduces false recognition when older adults are forewarned

Abstract

Exposing older adults to ageing stereotypes can reduce their memory for studied information--a phenomenon attributed to stereotype threat--but little is known about stereotype effects on false memory. Here, we assessed ageing stereotype effects on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory illusion. Older adults studied lists of semantically associated words, and then read a passage about age-related memory decline (threat condition) or an age-neutral passage (control condition). They then took a surprise memory test with a warning to avoid false recognition of non-studied associates. Relative to the control condition, activating stereotype threat reduced the recognition of both studied and non-studied words, implicating a conservative criterion shift for associated test words. These results indicate that stereotype threat can reduce false memory, and they help to clarify mixed results from prior ageing research. Consistent with the regulatory focus hypothesis, threat motivates older adults to respond more conservatively when error-prevention is emphasised at retrieval.

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings

“…It has also recently been shown that invoking aging and memory stereotype threats before testing alters false memory rates. Invoking a stereotype threat explicitly, by providing participants with summaries of research supporting an age-related memory decline, reduces false recall and recognition, potentially because older adults adopt a more conservative response criterion (Barber and Mather, 2013; Wong and Gallo, 2015). Interestingly, if the threat is invoked implicitly, by subliminally presenting negative age-related words (e.g., ‘feeble’), older adults are more likely to make false alarms, possibly because controlled monitoring processes are disrupted by anxiety over the testing situation (Krendl et al, 2015).…”

Activating Aging Stereotypes Increases Source Recollection Confusions in Older Adults: Effect at Encoding but Not Retrieval

“…We used the same stereotype manipulation as in Wong and Gallo (2016). Older adults in the stereotype conditions read a passage containing scientific findings of agerelated decline in memory, word-finding, and multitasking, whereas older adult controls read an age-neutral passage on language.…”

“…To our knowledge, only three studies have explicitly activated aging stereotypes after the encoding phase but before the memory task, so that only retrieval could be affected. Thomas and Dubois (2011) found that activating stereotypes just before retrieval increased false recognition errors in the DRM task (Roediger & McDermott, 1995), whereas Wong and Gallo (2016) found the opposite result with a modified DRM procedure. In a follow-up study that compared the two DRM procedures, Smith, Gallo, Barber, Maddox, & Thomas (in press) obtained results that were more consistent with Thomas and Dubois (2011).…”

“…These studies indicate that stereotype activation prior to retrieval can impact memory errors, potentially by diminishing retrieval monitoring accuracy. However, these effects have been inconsistent, potentially because it is difficult to control retrieval strategies in the DRM task (see Wong & Gallo, 2016). Moreover, these prior studies did not include a condition where stereotypes were activated prior to encoding, so the effect of activating stereotypes at encoding could not be evaluated.…”

Ageism and Neuropsychological Tests

“…Consistent with the idea of a prevention focus, older adults under stereotype threat have been found to be more risk-averse in their decision making compared to non-threatened older adults (Coudin and Alexopoulos 2010), and respond more slowly (Popham and Hess 2015). In addition, stereotype threat was found to reduce older adults' (veridical) recall and recognition, but improve memory accuracy (Barber and Mather 2013b;Wong and Gallo 2016).…”