Chapter 3

Question 1

• Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 1

memory from few minutes/seconds ago

testing with: to-be-remembered-items (TBR) digit span, word span

Question 2

• Baddeley:

Answer 2

central executive, slave systems

• Slave systems: phonological loop,

Question 3

Ageing and short term memory

Answer 3

• Age gap shown through backward span procedure
• Corsi Block Test same result as forward span
• Problems with frontal lobe?
• Inhibitory deficit hypothesis
• no age deficit in Retrieval-induced forgetting in episodic memory maybe just wrong study method
• how much is inhibition and how much general ageing?
• Decline in STM because of central executive, not storage per se
• Ranschburg effect=deterioration in memory performance when items are repeated in a list of TBR items greater in older adults
• Chunking older ppl less likely to do it
• Different strategy use? –> but still big age difference when controlled for
• Method of loci training for eldersbut only particular task, not all memory, still more efficient for younger than older ppl

Question 4

Ageing and long-term memory

Answer 4

• Effect of age on LTM is very big

Question 5

Remote memory

Answer 5

• Remote memory=non-autobiographical events, e.g. that have been in the news
• Famous Names Test (FNT) for all age groups recent names better than distant onesold better than young
• ContradictsRibot’s hypothesis=memory for recent events should be wose than distant events
• BUT: might still not be remote memory, recollected from general memory
• Remote memory might just reflect media coverage
• Still good for testing dementia

Question 6

Eyewitness testimony

Answer 6

• Some worsening of recall in older
• Old more confident that wrong info is real
• Link to frontal lobe decline

Question 7

Text recall

Answer 7

• No/relatively few age differences in recall of main points of text
• Memory for detail may worsen

Question 8

Semantic memory

Answer 8

• No age differences in semantic memory, maybe even better than young
• Across cortex, not specific brain region
• When asked to retrieve more specific semantic memory, age difference appears

Question 9

Episodic memory

Answer 9

• Source memory: remembering the context in which something was learned
• Destination memory: remembering who has already told or been told the same information
Both impaired in elder adults

Question 10

Implicit memory

Answer 10

• No significant/ only slight age difference
• Old less able to make use of implicit associations
questionable studies

Question 11

Autobiographical memory and ageing

Answer 11

• Involuntary memory= producing memories they would not have produced in that moment in time more autobiographical memories voluntary memory spontaneous, through associations more likely to be cued by abstract thoughts than specific sensory input, decline of voluntary memory in elders
• Reminiscence peak (reminiscence bump): most autobiographical memory comes from period between 10-30 years old  most happens in life
• Childhood amnesia : no memory about very early childhood

Question 12

Prospective memory

Answer 12

• Remembering things to do in the future not just another form of LTM, must be remembered at right time
• Internal cues: person hopes to prompt themselves at right time time-based tasks
• External cues: knot in handkerchief, diary entry event-based tasks
•  But: division is not clear cut
•  often no age difference for elders or even superiority,

Question 13

Metamemory and ageing

Answer 13

• Metaknowledge, Feeling of knowing (FOK): how confident are participants that their answer is correct
• No age difference, but elders less self esteem
• Tip of the tongue (TOT):incomplete memory, name or word cannot quite be recalled
• Older people more TOTs, but no age difference in resolving
• Older not as efficient

Question 14

Summary and overwiev -how does ageing affect memory?

Answer 14

• Memory does decline with age, despite basic STM span, some aspects of prospective memory and metamemory
• Having positive image of ageing can offset ageing

Question 15

• Compensation-Related Utilisation of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH):

Answer 15

neural representations are more distinctive in older adults when there are relatively low task demands/ less distinctive when demands are high
loss of grey matter, more neurons activated to do simple tasks, when task demand high, older neurons lack power to cope

Question 16

• Scaffolding theory of ageing and cognition (STAC):

Answer 16

in order to offset neural decline, brain recruits help from other sources (social engagement with others, compensation, etc.) combines many theories