Psychology, Department of
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
1-4-2024
Citation
Psychol Aging. 2020 August ; 35(5): 710–719. doi:10.1037/pag0000458.
Abstract
Previously we demonstrated that in young adults briefly thinking of (i.e., refreshing) a just-seen word impairs immediate (100ms delay) perceptual processing of the word, relative to words seen but not refreshed. We suggested that such reflective-induced inhibition biases attention towards new information. Here, we investigated whether reduced accessibility of refreshed targets dissipates with a longer delay, and whether older adults would show a smaller and/or delayed effect, versus young adults. Young and older adult participants saw two words, followed by a cue to refresh one. After either a 100ms or 500ms delay, participants read a word that was the refreshed word (refreshed probe), the nonrefreshed word (nonrefreshed probe), or a new word (novel probe). Young adults were slower to read refreshed probes than nonrefreshed probes at the 100ms, but not the 500ms, delay. Conversely, older adults were slower to read refreshed probes than nonrefreshed probes at the 500ms, but not the 100ms, delay. The delayed slowing of responses to refreshed probes was primarily observed in older-old adults (75+ years). A delay in suppressing the target of refreshing may disrupt the fluidity with which attention can be shifted to a new target. Importantly, a long-term memory benefit of refreshing was observed for both ages and delays, regardless of whether we observed a temporary inhibition of the target of refreshing. These results suggest that a full characterization of age-related memory deficits should consider the time course of effects and how specific component cognitive processes affect both working and long-term memory.
Comments
HHS Public Access.