Working Memory for Item and Temporal Information in Younger and Older Adults

McCabe, Jennifer A.; Hartman, Marilyn

doi:10.1080/13825580801956217

Cited by 21 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The pattern of results suggested that the two younger age groups performed similarly, and that the two older age groups performed similarly. These data confirmed previous findings that working memory abilities decrease with increasing age, and supported the view that changes in the use of semantic knowledge may be less sensitive to changes with age (see McCabe & Hartman, 2008; Hartman & Warren, 2005). Furthermore, the use of complex measures, like the size judgment span task, which required both memory for items and a reordering of these items, proved to be the most sensitive to age differences, whereas the forward digit span task was less sensitive.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Interestingly, this post-hoc analysis did not show significant differences in output serial position performance between the two oldest age groups, suggesting that these participants may have been able to draw upon item information and semantic associations. The use of semantic associations has shown less steep declines with age, relative to item information (see McCabe & Hartman, 2008; Hartman & Warren, 2005). Future research with the two oldest age groups should continue to investigate the trajectory of the temporal context deficit.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternatively, previous research indicates that older adults have shown declines in temporal context information, and that this type of information may be more sensitive to age than other types of associative memory (Hartman & Warren, 2005). Furthermore, research using the n-back paradigm demonstrated that these declines in temporal context affected performance on the n-back task to a greater degree than probable declines in item information (as assessed through item recognition and responses to lures; McCabe & Hartman, 2008). As mentioned earlier, the demands of the SJS task required that a participant be able to retain item information and then separate this information from the original order information to be able to report the items back in terms of their physical size.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Working memory in the oldest-old: evidence from output serial position curves

et al. 2011

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We examined adult age differences in short-term and working memory performance in middle-aged (45–64 years), young-old (65–74 years), old-old (75–89 years) and oldest-old adults (90 years and over) in the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study. Previous research suggests that measures of working memory are more sensitive to age effects than simple tests of short-term memory (Bopp & Verhaeghen, 2005; Myerson, Emery, White, & Hale, 2003). To test this hypothesis, we examined output serial position curves of recall data from three span tasks: forward and backward digit span and size judgment span. Participants’ recall patterns in the size judgment span task revealed that the two oldest groups of adults showed the largest decreases in recall performance across output serial positions, but did not differ significantly from each other. Correlation analyses indicated the strongest negative correlation with age occurred with the size judgment span task. Implications of these findings for understanding strategic processing abilities in late life are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Working memory in the oldest-old: evidence from output serial position curves

et al. 2011

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“…Therefore, the regression analyses may underestimate the effects of this variable. In that respect, we note that studies that explicitly investigated the effects of lures on age differences find that lures are indeed effective in decreasing performance of older adults (McCabe & Hartman, 2008;Schmiedek et al, 2009). Current metaanalysis suggests that n-back is an effective method to examine the specific processes involved in age-related differences in working memory.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our interpretation is that older adults do not have a deficit with the search process per se, but with the outcome of that process: By the time they access and/or retrieve the item from memory, its trace is more likely to have decayed and/or fallen victim to inter-item interference. Support for this position comes from studies that suggest that older adults have lower resolution for items stored outside the focus of attention (Verhaeghen et al, XXXX), and studies that suggest that older adults have more difficulty rejecting lures that are one position removed from n than younger adults do, suggesting that the mere presence of similar items in the memory set leads to confusion (McCabe & Hartman, 2008;Schmiedek et al, 2009).…”

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confidence: 97%

Aging and n-Back Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Bopp

Verhaeghen

2018

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B

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Objectives: To provide a systematic review of age-related differences in n-back performance. Method: Meta-analytic data aggregation. Results: Access for items stored within the focus of attention (0-back and 1-back) was very fast and quasi-perfect; when items are held outside the focus (n > 1), an additional cost was accrued in both accuracy and response time. Age-related differences in accuracy conformed to this bifurcation. Longer lists led to larger costs when going from 1-back to 2-back in older adults. For 1-back accuracy, studies that used visual (as opposed to verbal) stimuli, were experimenter-paced, and used shorter list lengths led to larger age-related differences; for 2-back accuracy, a larger difference in chronological age, visual stimuli, and a higher target proportion led to larger age-related differences. For 1-back response times, age-related differences were larger for studies that had a larger chronological age difference, used experimenter pacing, did not contain lures, and used shorter list lengths; for 2-back response times, age-related differences were larger for studies with larger chronological age differences, visual presentation, experimenter pacing, and a higher target proportion. Discussion: The results suggest a specific age-related deficit associated with focus switching within working memory. Evidence for specific executive-control-related explanations, in contrast, is mixed.

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Identifying training modalities to improve multitasking in older adults

Bier

Boysson

Belleville

2014

AGE

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Studies that have measured the effects of attentional training have relied on a range of training formats, which may vary in their efficacy. In particular, it is unclear whether programs that practice dual-tasking are more effective in improving divided attention than programs focusing on flexible allocation priority training. The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to compare the efficacy of different types of attentional training formats and (2) to assess transfer to distal measures. Forty-two healthy older adults were randomly assigned to one of three training groups. In the SINGLE training condition, participants practiced a visual detection and an alphanumeric equation task in isolation. In the FIXED training condition, participants practiced both tasks simultaneously with equal attention allocated to each. In the VARIABLE training condition, participants varied the attentional priority allocated to each task. After training, all participants improved their performance on the alphanumeric equation task when performed individually, including those in the SINGLE training condition. Participants in the FIXED training condition improved their divided attention, but only the participants in the VARIABLE training condition showed a greater capacity to vary their attentional priorities according to the instructions. Regarding transfer, all groups improved their performance on the 2-back condition, but only the VARIABLE and FIXED conditions resulted in better performance on the 1-back condition. Overall, the study supports the notion that attentional control capacities in older adults are plastic and can be improved with appropriate training and that the type of training determines its impact on divided attention.

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Working Memory for Item and Temporal Information in Younger and Older Adults

Cited by 21 publications

References 56 publications

Working memory in the oldest-old: evidence from output serial position curves

Working memory in the oldest-old: evidence from output serial position curves

Aging and n-Back Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Identifying training modalities to improve multitasking in older adults

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