Adult age differences in acquisition and retention of frequency-of-occurrence information for actions

Abstract

Adult age differences in frequency-of-occurrence memory for actions performed zero, one, or two times in the laboratory were investigated shortly after the actions had been performed and after a retention interval of 24 h. A moderate age difference in accuracy of frequency judgments was found on the immediate retention test. Forgetting over 24 h was moderate for both young adult and elderly adult subjects. A negligible interaction between age and retention interval suggested comparable forgetting rates for young and elderly subjects, at least over 24 h.