What eye movements reveal about strategy encoding of words in younger and older adults

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to explore the organizational strategies used by younger and older adults when encoding words, using eye-tracking. Participants had to learn a set of organizable words and then a set of non-organizable words, each presented on a single display. Participants were then asked to recall the words of each set in the order in which they came to their mind. Hence, the participants' encoding strategies revealed by eye-tracking could be directly related to their subsequent memory performance. The results confirmed the detrimental impact of aging on memory and the weaker use of organizational strategies by older adults during the recall phase. The eye-tracking data showed that when they encode the words, older adults do not look at them for as long as younger adults, probably because of slower eye movements. They also revealed that compared to younger adults, older adults were much less able to adapt their word scanning strategy according to whether the words to encode were organizable or not. Finally, the relationships that were found between the recall scores and the eye-tracking data suggest that the eye movement pattern at learning can predict how people will recall the words.

The protective effect of educational level varies as a function of the difficulty of the memory task in ageing

“…In this condition, only younger adults benefited from using this strategy as evidenced by the positive association between the ARC score and recall. These results are in line with a wide literature showing that older adults have difficulties to spontaneously implement semantic organisation during recall and that when implemented, the strategies are less efficient for memory than for younger adults (Denney, 1974;Taconnat et al, 2009, Taconnat et al, 2020 , but also other mnemonic strategies in diverse memory tasks (e.g., Burger et al, 2017) . Although we did not test for any cognitive control abilities, there is growing evidence that one reason why older individual fail to implement semantic organisation in a memory task where the words as organisable but not organised is due to lower working memory capacities (e.g., Cherry et al, 2021;Kuhlmann & Touron, 2016).…”

“…These results have since been replicated, revealing that those who spontaneously use this semantic organisation retrieve more words (Denney, 1974;Puff, 1979) . Interestingly, although older adults always show lower recall performance than younger adults, some studies have reported that older adults do use semantic organisation spontaneously with a gain in performance, whereas other research has reported deficits regarding the use of this strategy (e.g., Howard & Kahana, 1999;Taconnat et al, 2009, Taconnat et al, 2020West & Thorn, 2001) . Although the use of semantic organisation may be spared in older adults (Golomb et al, 2008) , a recent eye-tracking study by Taconnat et al (2020) showed that older adults at least try to semantically organise the words during encoding, but fail to use this strategy at recall as compared to younger adults.…”

“…Interestingly, although older adults always show lower recall performance than younger adults, some studies have reported that older adults do use semantic organisation spontaneously with a gain in performance, whereas other research has reported deficits regarding the use of this strategy (e.g., Howard & Kahana, 1999;Taconnat et al, 2009, Taconnat et al, 2020West & Thorn, 2001) . Although the use of semantic organisation may be spared in older adults (Golomb et al, 2008) , a recent eye-tracking study by Taconnat et al (2020) showed that older adults at least try to semantically organise the words during encoding, but fail to use this strategy at recall as compared to younger adults. In an environmental support model, Craik (1990) posited that even though older adults fail to efficiently use processes or strategies to assist better memorisa-tion, they can do so when given appropriate directing tasks.…”

“…One of the main explanations of the age-related decline in episodic memory is that older adults have difficulties in recalling information and selecting and using efficient strategies at the encoding and/or retrieval stages of memory tasks (Craik & Rose, 2012;Guerrero-Sastoque et al, 2019;Taconnat et al, 2009, Taconnat et al, 2020 . However, individual factors such as level of education may decrease or slow the age-related decline in memory (e.g., Angel et al, 2010;Foubert-Samier et al, 2012) .…”

“…Howard and Kahana 1999 ; Taconnat et al 2008 , 2020 ; West and Thorn 2001 ). Although the use of semantic organisation may be spared in older adults (Golomb et al 2008 ), a recent eye-tracking study by Taconnat et al ( 2020 ) showed that older adults at least try to semantically organise the words during encoding, but fail to use this strategy at recall as compared to younger adults. In an environmental support model, Craik ( 1990 ) posited that even though older adults fail to efficiently use processes or strategies to assist better memorisation, they can do so when given appropriate directing tasks.…”