Memory for news in young and old adults.

Memory for news stories was studied in 48 young and 48 old adults (20-40 and 60-80 years of age, respectively). Three stories selected from actual news programs were presented in print, audio, and TV formats for study. Young adults recalled a higher proportion of news content than old adults and performed better on source recognition tests. Presentation of the information in a TV format led to better performance than in an audio format for both young and old adults. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that approximately 86% of the age-related variance in news recall was mediated by measures of sensory acuity and processing speed, and commonality analysis revealed that 75% of the age-related variance was mediated jointly by acuity and speed. Findings support common-cause and generalized slowing views of memory impairment in old age.

Mediators of long-term memory performance across the life span.

An individual-differences approach was used to examine the component processes that predict episodic long-term memory performance. A total of 301 participants ages 20-90 received a 7-hr cognitive battery across 3 days. Key constructs hypothesized to affect long-term memory function were assessed, including multiple measures of working memory and perceptual speed. Latent-construct, structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship of these measures and age to different types of long-term memory tasks. Speed was a key construct for all 3 types of memory tasks, mediating substantial age-related variance; working memory was a fundamental construct for free and cued recall but not spatial memory. The data suggest that both speed and working memory are fundamental to explaining age-related changes in cognitive aging but that the relative contributions of these constructs vary as a function of the type of memory task.

The effect of verbal elaborations on memory in young and older adults.

The Stein paradigm was used to examine the circumstances under which verbal elaborations enhance memory in young and older adults. Subjects studied target adjectives that were embedded in one of three sentence contexts that varied in elaboration of the subject-adjective relationship: (1) nonelaborated base sentences; (2) base sentences with semantically consistent, but arbitrary verbal, elaborations; and (3) base sentences with explanatory verbal elaborations that clarified the significance of the subject-adjective relationship. The presence of the elaborations was varied at encoding and retrieval, and cued recall of the target adjectives was tested with incidental and intentional learning procedures. In Experiments 1A and 1B, explanatory elaborations at encoding and retrieval yielded the largest memorial facilitation for both young and older adults, and the benefit was comparable for the incidental and intentional learning measures. In Experiment 2, age-related differences in recall were minimal with explanatory elaborations at encoding and retrieval, but larger age differences occurred in the nonelaborated comparison conditions. In Experiment 3, explanatory elaborations present at encoding but not at retrieval enhanced recall when the original Stein stimuli were used, but not with the present stimuli. The implications of these results with regard to the mnemonic efficacy of verbal elaborations for young and older adults are discussed.

Effects of organization and working memory on age differences in memory for scene information.

We examined the effects of organization and working memory on young and older adults' scene memory. Subjects discriminated transformed pictures from unchanged study items in organized or unorganized scenes. Memory was tested independently for two types of scene transformations: (a) relocations (two objects rearranged and one moved) and (b) substitutions (one object replaced by another). Organization had similar effects on young and older adults, improving memory for relocations but not substitutions. Working memory significantly predicted scene memory, except for relocations in organized scenes, and partially mediated the observed age effects. The results are discussed in relation to the resource and environmental support views of cognitive aging.

Medication adherence behaviors in older adults: effects of external cognitive supports.

Medication adherence behaviors of 61 elderly adults were examined using a sensitive microelectronic monitoring device. To assess the effects of external cognitive supports on adherence, different subjects received (a) no intervention, (b) an organizational chart, (c) an over-the-counter medication organizer, or (d) both the chart and organizer. The young-old subjects showed a high rate of adherence (94%) and were not improved by the addition of the interventions. Old-old subjects had a lower rate of adherence (85%) than young-olds. Omission errors were the most frequent mistakes and were lower in the condition in which subjects received both chart and organizer.

Cognitive factors and the use of over-the-counter medication organizers by arthritis patients.

The present study investigated the ability of 45 arthritis patients, all using three or more prescription medications, to correctly load their medications into three types of over-the-counter medication organizers. The results indicated that use of a seven-day organizer with compartments for different times resulted in fewer errors than did an hour-by-hour wheel organizer or a seven-day organizer with only one compartment for each day. It was concluded that the seven-day organizer with compartments for different times appears to have the potential to improve compliance behaviors, but the usefulness of the other two organizers in promoting compliance is uncertain. Data analyses also indicated that age was not related to comprehension or loading accuracy of the organizers but that individuals using seven or more prescribed medications were particularly likely to make comprehension errors.