Organization and Memory in Adulthood

Abstract

The research reviewed illustrates how organizational processes (grouping and relating) influence memory in general, and adult age differences in memory in particular. Free recall data have indicated that the subject segments the learning material into integrated groups which become his functional recall units. Thus, a major theoretical position that has emerged has been the suggestion that recall is dependent on organization. Such a theoretical position has led to the hypothesis that the locus of adult age differences in memory may be in organizational processes. The research reviewed suggests that there is evidence of an age-related decrement in the organizational processes of memory. While research has indicated the possibility of an age-related decrement in the organizational processes of memory, questions concerning the specific nature of the deficit and antecedents that account for it still remain. In approaching these questions, a rough model was developed. Applied to adult age differences, the model suggested several possible sources of the recall deficit.