TY - JOUR
T1 - Age, Testing at Preferred or Nonpreferred Times (Testing Optimality), and False Memory
AU - Intons-Peterson, M. J.
AU - Rocchi, Paola
AU - West, Tara
AU - McLellan, Kimberly
AU - Hackney, Amy
PY - 1999/1
Y1 - 1999/1
N2 - Two experiments investigated whether age and testing at preferred (optimal) times of day or nonpreferred (nonoptimal) times affected the ability to select relevant from irrelevant but thematically related alternatives in a verbal false memory paradigm. A 3rd experiment pursued the same issues with a visual false memory paradigm. In all 3 experiments, younger adults (n = 195) correctly recalled studied items more often than older adults (n = 121), whereas the 2 age groups correctly recognized about the same numbers of previously studied items. In all 3 experiments, nonoptimally tested older adults had more difficulty excluding nonstudied but thematically related items than the other groups; thus, they showed the greatest evidence of false memory, although all groups did so to a significant extent. The results suggest that optimality and its circadian determinants need to be considered with some tasks for the elderly. Various models and mechanisms are discussed.
AB - Two experiments investigated whether age and testing at preferred (optimal) times of day or nonpreferred (nonoptimal) times affected the ability to select relevant from irrelevant but thematically related alternatives in a verbal false memory paradigm. A 3rd experiment pursued the same issues with a visual false memory paradigm. In all 3 experiments, younger adults (n = 195) correctly recalled studied items more often than older adults (n = 121), whereas the 2 age groups correctly recognized about the same numbers of previously studied items. In all 3 experiments, nonoptimally tested older adults had more difficulty excluding nonstudied but thematically related items than the other groups; thus, they showed the greatest evidence of false memory, although all groups did so to a significant extent. The results suggest that optimality and its circadian determinants need to be considered with some tasks for the elderly. Various models and mechanisms are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032603663&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/0278-7393.25.1.23
DO - 10.1037/0278-7393.25.1.23
M3 - Article
C2 - 9949706
AN - SCOPUS:0032603663
SN - 0278-7393
VL - 25
SP - 23
EP - 40
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition
IS - 1
ER -