Differential Effects of Aging on Autobiographical Memory Tasks

Katinka Dijkstra and Steve M. J. Janssen

SAGE Open, 2016, vol. 6, issue 2, 2158244016646412

Abstract: This study examined the role of aging in the recall and recognition of autobiographical memories. Young and older adults submitted personal events during a period of 3 months to an Internet diary. After this period, they performed a cued-recall test based on what, who , and where retrieval cues. Three months later, participants completed a recognition test in which the descriptions of half the entries were altered. The results indicated no age differences on the cued-recall task, but several age differences on the recognition task. Older adults were more susceptible to accept altered entries as authentic, particularly when these changes had been subtle. However, despite their lower performance, older adults were more confident with the accuracy of their decisions. The results suggest that different mechanisms underlie the recall and recognition of autobiographical memories, and that only tasks that subtly tap into source monitoring abilities are affected by cognitive aging processes.

Keywords: aging; autobiographical memory; source monitoring; cued recall; recognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:6:y:2016:i:2:p:2158244016646412

DOI: 10.1177/2158244016646412

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