Loaiza, V.M. orcid.org/0000-0002-5000-7089 and Srokova, S. (2020) Semantic relatedness corrects the age-related binding deficit in working memory and episodic memory. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75 (9). pp. 1841-1849. ISSN 1079-5014
Abstract
Objectives
It is well known that age differentially impacts aspects of long-term episodic memory (EM): Whereas a binding deficit indicates that older adults are less capable than younger adults to encode or retrieve associations between information (e.g., the pairing between two memoranda, such as lock – race), item memory is relatively intact (e.g., recognizing lock without its original pairing).
Method
We tested whether this deficit could be corrected by facilitating establishment of the bindings in working memory (WM) through adapting the semantic relatedness of studied pairs according to participants’ ongoing performance (Experiments 1 and 2). We also examined whether this was evident for the long-term retention of pairs that were not tested in WM (Experiment 2).
Results
The results revealed matched binding and item memory in WM and EM between age groups. Most importantly, older adults required increased semantic strength between word pairs to achieve similar performance to that of younger adults, regardless of whether pairs were immediately tested during the WM task.
Discussion
These findings indicate that relying on their superior semantic memory can correct the commonly exhibited profound deficit in binding memory in older age.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Author(s). This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Associative memory; Episodic memory; Semantic memory; Working memory; Age Factors; Aged; Aging; Association; Female; Humans; Male; Memory and Learning Tests; Memory, Episodic; Memory, Long-Term; Memory, Short-Term; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Recognition, Psychology; Semantics; Word Association Tests |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 24 Nov 2023 12:05 |
Last Modified: | 24 Nov 2023 12:44 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/geronb/gbz055 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:205655 |