Processing and generation effects on explicit and implicit memory performance in younger and older adults.
Item
-
Title
-
Processing and generation effects on explicit and implicit memory performance in younger and older adults.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9830716
-
identifier
-
9830716
-
Creator
-
Grix, Maureen Claire.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Wilma A. Winnick
-
Date
-
1998
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Cognitive | Gerontology
-
Abstract
-
Younger and older adults were compared in 2 levels of processing experiments. The experiments varied in the use of the standard levels of processing paradigm and a novel elaboratively encoded levels of processing paradigm. In Experiment 1 subjects performed standard yes/no perceptual and conceptual encoding tasks and were then administered Recognition and Word Fragment Completion Tests. Experiment 1 was considered the baseline experiment to determine if the levels of processing effect, as well as previously found memory performance differences between younger and older adults, would be replicated. In Experiment 2, perceptual and conceptual encoding tasks calling for active generation were introduced. The requirements were to generate either a sentence or five words beginning with the same letter as the target word. It was predicted that the elaborative encoding required in both the perceptual and conceptual study tasks would reduce any group differences found in Experiment 1.;With the standard levels of processing task of Experiment 1, younger adults obtained higher explicit memory scores and there was a suggestion that they benefited more from conceptual encoding than older. In contrast, with an active, generative encoding task, older adults' memory performance was on the same level as younger and the implication of a conceptual processing benefit for younger adults was no longer present. The active, generational study task equated the older adults' memory performance with the younger on the implicit memory test as well, but in this case the hint of a conceptual processing benefit remained.;Findings support Craik's (1984) production deficiency hypothesis of age-related memory decrements that would predict differences between the groups with a standard levels of processing task and a reduction in group differences with a more active processing task when the production deficiency is eliminated. Results are also consistent with Moscovitch's (1989) working-with-memory model suggesting that increased encoding activation, and concomitant putative frontal lobe involvement in the memory process, improves the memory performance of older adults.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
