Recognition memory across the lifespan: the impact of word frequency and study-test interval on estimates of familiarity and recollection

Beat Meier,Alodie Rey-Mermet,Peter Graf,Nicolas Rothen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00787

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate recognition memory performance across the lifespan and to determine how estimates of recollection and familiarity contribute to performance. In each of three experiments, participants from five groups from 14 up to 85 years of age (children, young adults, middle-aged adults, young-old adults, and old-old adults) were presented with high- and low-frequency words in a study phase and were tested immediately afterwards and/or after a one day retention interval. The results showed that word frequency and retention interval affected recognition memory performance as well as estimates of recollection and familiarity. Across the lifespan, the trajectory of recognition memory followed an inverse u-shape function that was neither affected by word frequency nor by retention interval. The trajectory of estimates of recollection also followed an inverse u-shape function, and was especially pronounced for low-frequency words. In contrast, estimates of familiarity did not differ across the lifespan. The results indicate that age differences in recognition memory are mainly due to differences in processes related to recollection while the contribution of familiarity-based processes seems to be age-invariant.

Highlights

Evidence from developmental and cognitive aging studies suggests that episodic memory follows an inverted U-shape function with an increase in performance from childhood to adolescence, a peak in young adulthood, followed by a steady decline in later life
The absence of any interaction effects among these variables suggests that they exert an additive influence on performance. These findings are consistent with previous research on both agegroup differences in recognition memory, as well as with research concerned with word frequency and retention interval effects
As recollection is assumed to depend on elaborative processing, and low-frequency words are more likely to involve this type of processing, one interpretation is that aging is accompanied by a reduction in elaborative processing

Summary

Introduction

Evidence from developmental and cognitive aging studies suggests that episodic memory follows an inverted U-shape function with an increase in performance from childhood to adolescence, a peak in young adulthood, followed by a steady decline in later life. Episodic memory refers to the memory of one’s past, the “when,” “where,” and “what” of particular events one has experienced (e.g., Tulving, 2002) It is an important ability, which permits us to keep track of our life history and to distinguish new from old information. In a test phase, these words are presented again, intermixed with new words that have not been exposed previously, and participants are required to indicate for each word whether it is “old” or “new.” A correct decision can occur as a consequence of recollecting the memory of that word as it was presented in the study phase (i.e., recollection) or due to more fluent processing which is attributed to the oldness of an item (i.e., familiarity). Recollection is assumed to engage processes which are more resource demanding and slower than familiarity (e.g., Hintzman and Caulton, 1997; Joordens and Hockley, 2000; Yonelinas, 2002)

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