Text recall in adulthood as a function of level of information, input modality, and delay interval

Abstract

Five stories adapted from newspaper articles were presented to subjects in three predominantly female age groups (18-32 yrs., 34-56 yrs., and 60-81 yrs.) to determine the effects of level of information, input modality (reading vs. listening), and delay interval (immediate vs. one week delay) on recall. Subject's recall protocols were scored according to the propositional system of Kintsch. Analyses indicated that the younger adults remembered the text materials better than the middle-aged and older adults under both immediate and delayed recall conditions. However, age interacted with input modality. Both the younger and middle-aged adults benefited more from the opportunity to read the material than the older adults. The results also suggested the older adults' difficulty in text processing may be related to organizational propositions of the text than in the case of the subordinate proposition of the text.