Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Volume 66, Issue 5, Pages 519-526Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbr028
Keywords
Cognition; Executive function; Memory; Working memory
Funding
- National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health [RO1 AG16201]
- Beckman Institute
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Objectives. To investigate age differences in working memory processing, specifically the accuracy of retrieval of items stored outside the immediate focus of attention. Methods. Younger and older adults were tested on a modified N-Back task with probes presented in an unpredictable order (implying also that some trials necessitated a switch in the focus of attention and others that did not). Results. Older adults showed intact item accessibility, that is, after taking general slowing into account, older adults were as fast as younger adults in locating the item in working memory. We found age differences, however, in item availability: Older adults were less likely to correctly retrieve items stored outside the focus of attention. Smaller age differences in availability were also found for items stored inside the focus of attention. Discussion. These results strongly suggest that item availability is a cognitive primitive that is not reducible to more basic constructs such as item accessibility or simple speed of processing.
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