Declines in representational quality and strategic retrieval processes contribute to age-related increases in false recognition

Abstract

In a Yes/No object recognition memory test with similar lures, older adults typically exhibit elevated rates of false recognition. However, the contributions of impaired retrieval, relative to reduced availability of target details, are difficult to disentangle using such a test. The present investigation sought to decouple these factors by comparing performance on a Yes/No (YN) test to that on a Forced Choice (FC) test, which minimizes demands on strategic retrieval processes, enabling a more direct measure of the availability of object details. Older adults exhibited increased lure false recognition across test formats (Experiment 1), suggesting a decline in the availability of object details contributes to deficits in performance. Manipulating interference by varying the number of objects studied selectively enhanced performance in the FC test, resulting in matched performance across groups, whereas age differences in YN performance persisted (Experiment 2), indicating an additional contribution of impaired strategic retrieval. Consistent with differential sensitivity of test format to strategic retrieval and the quality of stimulus representations among older adults, variability in the quality of object representations, measured using a perceptual discrimination task, was selectively related to FC performance. In contrast, variability in memory control processes, as measured with tests of recall and executive function, was related to performance across test formats. These results suggest that both declines in the availability of object details and impaired retrieval of object details contribute to elevated rates of lure false recognition with age, and highlight the utility of test format for dissociating these factors in memory-impaired populations. (PsycINFO Database Record

Figure 1

Experiment paradigm. Study phase schematic depicting examples of experimental stimuli (top) and test phase schematic depicting examples of Forced Choice and Yes/No test trials (bottom). The Yes/No test display depicts examples of ‘new’ trials containing similar foil objects.

Figure 2

Recognition memory performance in the Forced Choice and Yes/No test formats in Experiment 1, collapsed across ‘remember’ and ‘familiar’ judgments. Both older and younger adults exhibited superior memory performance the Forced Choice test relative to the Yes/No test, although age differences in performance were observed across test formats. Error bars represent standard error.

Figure 3

(Left) Recognition memory performance following study of an equal number of items (180 objects) across age groups in Experiment 2. Age differences in performance were observed across test formats. (Right) Recognition memory performance following short (YA: 180 objects; OA: 60 objects) and long (YA: 300 objects; OA: 180 objects) study-test blocks in each test format. Age differences are observed in the Yes/No test, but not the Forced Choice test. Error bars represent standard error.

Figure 4

Recognition memory performance among older adults divided into low and high scoring groups based on neuropsychological test performance. Older adults with higher scores in Executive Function and Recall Ability performed significantly better across test formats than older adults with lower scores in these measures. Older adults with higher scores in Representational Quality performed significantly better than older adults with lower scores in this measure in the Forced Choice test, but these groups did not differ significantly in Yes/No test performance. Error bars represent standard error.