Optimizing memory strategy use in young and older adults: The role of metamemory and internal strategy use

Abstract

We explored whether experiencing differential efficacy of reading and generation for memory in an initial learning trial led younger and older adults to improve recall of read items in a subsequent learning trial, leading to a reduction of the generation effect. In the first trial, generation improved the memory performance of both young and older adults. However, in Trial 2, the generation effect remained significant for older adults only, confirming that they did not change the way they processed read items, unlike the young adults. The older adults were also less spontaneously aware that generation led to better memory performance in the first trial, and, in contrast to the young adults, awareness did not result in a reduction of the generation effect. Moreover, the age-related differences in generation effect reduction were mediated by an independent measure of self-reported internal strategy use. However, when an appropriate environmental support was provided between both trials, older adults improved read items recall at the second trial as well as younger ones, leading to an elimination of the generation advantage for both groups. Environmental support reduced the implication of internal strategy use in the generation effect reduction, suggesting that age-related differences in the implementation of effective encoding processes in Trial 2 would be the consequence of a metamemory deficit, and reduced capacity to self-initiate internal strategies.