Word familiarity and cardiovascular health as determinants of age-related recall differences.

This study investigated surprise free recall in two generations of adults following a semantic processing task. The study was designed to determine the effect of word familiarity and cardiovascular health status on the age-related decrement typically demonstrated in that task. Two lists were used. One list contained words familiar to young adults, whereas the other contained words familiar to older adults. Cardiovascular health status of older adults was assessed by determining whether the person was taking medication prescribed for cardiovascular problems. Participants rated half the words on a pleasantness scale and half on a size scale and were then given a surprise free-recall test. The results indicated that word familiarity and cardiovascular health status both have significant effects on the age-related decrement in free recall following a semantic processing task.

Age-related facilitation in recall following semantic processing.

The present experiment was an attempt to reduce or eliminate the age-related deficit in recall following a semantic processing task. It was hypothesized that variables that might affect depth or elaborateness of semantic processing would consequently affect the size and direction of recall differences between younger and older adults. Specifically, we tested for the effects of differential word familiarity and one vs two semantic tasks on recall in young and older adults following semantic processing. The results demonstrated that word familiarity and number of processing tasks both had a strong effect on recall. Older adults benefited as much from additional semantic processing as younger adults. Additionally, older adults actually showed higher recall than younger adults when subjects processed words more familiar to older adults. These results demonstrate that, given appropriate conditions, older adults may actually show higher performance in a memory task than younger adults.