Temporal memory for performed activities: Intentionality and adult age differences.

Investigated rehearsal independency and the age insensitivity of temporal memory for prior performances on various tasks, using 36 young (aged 18.08–29.83 yrs) and 36 older (aged 60.25–85.83 yrs) adults. Ss performed under varying incidental/intentional memory conditions on 16 tasks (e.g., dot connection, card rotation, maze tracing) assigned to 4 time blocks separated by rest breaks. Following the last task, Ss received 2 tests of temporal memory. The first required identifying the time block in which each task was performed; the second required reconstructing the serial order in which the tasks had been performed. Temporal memory proficiency was equivalent under incidental and intentional memory conditions for each measure at each age level, thus supporting the rehearsal-independent nature of this form of episodic memory. However, an age deficit was present for each measure. Thus, temporal memory for performed activities appears to be age sensitive rather than age insensitive, as assumed by the automaticity of encoding hypothesis. However, the locus of age deficit in terms of the encoding stage or retrieval state of temporal memory remains undetermined. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety level and score on a biographical inventory.

2 hypotheses were tested: (1) "the Ss scoring at the two extremes on the Dep subscale of the BIS will differ significantly in anxiety level from Ss scoring in the intermediate range; and (2) Ss scoring in the intermediate range will reflect higher anxiety level. Anxiety level was measured by the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. Sixty-four male students… support the interpretation that the Dep subscale of the BIS is measuring the motivational variable of anxiety." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for activities: Adult age differences and intentionality.

24 17–24 yr olds and 24 56–76 yr olds were tested for memory of activities on a series of tasks (e.g., letter cancellation and anagrams) that varied along the rote–cognitive dimension. Half the Ss in each age group were forewarned of the subsequent memory test (intentional learning); the remaining Ss were not forewarned (incidental learning). An overall age difference, favoring young Ss, was found. However, the magnitude of the age difference varied across activities, being slight for cognitively demanding tasks and pronounced for less-demanding activities. Memory was unaffected by the forewarning variable for both age groups. Results are interpreted in terms of an age deficit in the retrieval of memory traces established by activities, with cognitively demanding activities yielding more distinctive and therefore more retrievable traces than less-demanding activities for older adults. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Utilization of path-analytic procedures to investigate the role of processing resources in cognitive aging.

Data from two batteries of tests administered to 129 and 233 adults, ranging from 20 to 79 years of age, were analyzed to explore the viability of models postulating that age differences in the quantity or efficiency of processing resources are responsible for many of the age differences observed in cognitive functioning. Path-analysis procedures were used to estimate the direct and indirect, or resource-mediated, effects of age on cognitive performance. Results, with simple speed and memory measures serving as the indexes of processing resources, indicated that there was little support for a strong resource model, and evidence derived from a weak resource model suggested that resource-mediated contributions to age differences are small, relative to those not mediated by processing resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in memory for massed and distributed repeated actions.

Adult age differences in memory for actions were investigated in 2 experiments in which actions were repeated with massed or distributed spacing. In Exp 1, Ss received a mixed series of actions, half performed once, the others twice, with repetitions either massed or distributed. Young Ss recalled more actions than did the elderly, and more distributed actions were recalled than massed actions. However, the Age?×?Spacing interaction was not significant. A probable inhibitory mechanism with a mixed list was avoided in Exp 2 by use of unmixed series. Actions were performed once only, twice only in massed repetitions, or twice only in distributed repetitions. The age difference was significant, and more actions were recalled in the distributed condition than in either of the other conditions, the results of which did not differ from one another. The Age?×?Conditions interaction was negligible. These results imply that elderly Ss are as likely as young Ss to encode contextual information while performing actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activity duration and adult age differences in memory for activity performance.

30 undergraduates and 30 elderly adults (mean age 69.86 yrs) performed a series of activities that varied in the duration of their performances (45, 90, and 180 sec). Duration had a negligible effect on the subsequent recall of the activities and on the magnitude of the age deficit in recall. Operationalization of the program for performing an activity seems essential for establishing a memory trace of that activity's performance, but the duration of performing that activity seems to yield no further enhancement of that trace. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological considerations in the construct validation of drive-oriented scales.

"Experimental studies directed at establishing the construct validity of D-oriented scales, such as the Taylor MAS, are beset with theoretical and methodological problems that make it difficult to interpret their results… . As a partial answer to these problems, the writers contend that studies employing verbal tasks should require a prior demonstration of comparability of the task for extreme groups identified by D scale performance. This need is dictated by the emphasis placed on the interaction between D level and intratask competition in contemporary D theory." Performance of high and low D groups should be compared with groups representing clearly defined experimentally induced motivational states who would serve as a baseline for determining the construct validity of a D-oriented scale. 26 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interference transfer paradigms and the performance of schizophrenics and controls.

A group of chronic schizophrenics (n = 18) and a group of control Ss (hospital employees, n = 18) were contrasted on the A-C and A-Br negative transfer paradigms. As expected, both groups yielded negative transfer on both paradigms, with significantly greater negative transfer for A-Br relative to A-C in the schizophrenic group only (p     

Adult age differences in recognition memory and frequency judgments for planned versus performed activities.

24 young (18.25–27.92 yrs old) and 24 elderly (62.75–80.42 yrs old) adults received a series of tasks (e.g., card sorting, arithmetic) that were planned for performance and subsequently performed with varying frequencies under intentional- and incidental-memory conditions to investigate age differences in active memory. Following the series of tasks, Ss estimated the frequencies with which task activities had been both performed and planned. Recognition-memory scores derived from performance-judgment scores revealed a significant age deficit in Ss' identification of those activities that had been performed earlier. However, memory was unaffected by intentionality at each age level. Results imply a modest age deficit for encoding rehearsal-independent, episodic events, but no age differences were found for reality monitoring: Elderly Ss were as proficient as young Ss in discriminating between planning and performance of an activity in terms of absolute frequency-judgment scores. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)