The Effects of Stereotype Threat on the Associative Memory Deficit of Older Adults
The Effects of Stereotype Threat on the Associative Memory Deficit of Older Adults

Author: Matthew S. Brubaker

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13:

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One of the suggestions made in the literature regarding older adults' episodic memory decline is that it is caused by their reduced ability to bind together components of an episode and retrieve the binding (termed an associative deficit). The purpose of the current research is to assess whether the age-related associative memory deficit is at least partially mediated by stereotype threat, which has been shown to negatively affect performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, including memory performance of older adults. To date the effects of stereotype threat on older adults' memory performance have only been shown using tests of item memory, and between subject manipulations. The question assessed in the current research is whether older adults' associative memory will be affected by stereotype threat more than item memory, rendering it one potential factor underlying the associative deficit. To answer this question, three experiments were conducted, which used an item-associative recognition memory paradigm while manipulating stereotype threat both within and between subjects. The first two experiments attempted to establish the baseline effect by directly comparing item and associative memory in younger and older adults under induced stereotype threat, reduced stereotype threat, and no stereotype threat (i.e. control) conditions. While a baseline age-related associative deficit was not shown in the control condition, inducing stereotype threat did have a significant negative effect on older adults' associative memory performance without affecting item memory performance—suggesting that stereotype threat does increase the age-related associative deficit. The third experiment further assessed the stage of processing— encoding, retrieval, or both—during which the effect of stereotype threat on older adults' memory occurs. Results showed that when stereotype threat was induced only at retrieval, memory performance was in line with performance with the reduced stereotype threat and control conditions, suggesting that this effect of stereotype threat occurs primarily during encoding of the information.

Memory and Aging
Memory and Aging

Author: Moshe Naveh-Benjamin

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2012-05-04

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 1136583025

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Current demographical patterns predict an aging worldwide population. It is projected that by 2050, more than 20% of the US population and 40% of the Japanese population will be older than 65. A dramatic increase in research on memory and aging has emerged to understand the age-related changes in memory since the ability to learn new information and retrieve previously learned information is essential for successful aging, and allows older adults to adapt to changes in their environment, self-concept, and social roles. This volume represents the latest psychological research on different aspects of age-related changes in memory. Written by a group of leading international researchers, its chapters cover a broad array of issues concerning the changes that occur in memory as people grow older, including the mechanisms and processes underlying these age-related memory changes, how these changes interact with social and cultural environments, and potential programs intended to increase memory performance in old age. Similarly, the chapters draw upon diverse methodological approaches, including cross-cultural extreme group experimental designs, longitudinal designs assessing intra-participant change, and computational approaches and neuroimaging assessment. Together, they provide converging evidence for stability and change in memory as people grow older, for the underlying causes of these patterns, as well as for the heterogeneity in older adults’ performance. Memory and Aging is essential reading for researchers in memory, cognitive aging, and gerontology.

The Effect of Stereotype-threat on Memory and Cortisol in Older Adults
The Effect of Stereotype-threat on Memory and Cortisol in Older Adults

Author: Ashley Dawn Ryan

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Stereotype-threat is characterized by underperformance on a task after exposure to a negative, self-relevant stereotype. In the case of older adults, there is a widely-held stereotype that older adults have poor memory function. It has been suggested that reminding older individuals of this stereotype results in poorer memory performance on effortful, but not automatic memory tasks. Further, testing older adults under certain conditions may increase cortisol levels, a biomarker associated with stress. The present study investigated whether stereotype-threat affects implicit and explicit memory, and cortisol levels in older adults. We gave older adults (n = 62) an incidental encoding task wherein they rated a list of common words for pleasantness. Participants were randomly assigned to threat-activated or threat-eased groups, with each group reading a newspaper article designed to either induce or ease the salience of stereotype-threat. Memory was tested implicitly, via word stem completion task, and explicitly, via free recall task and forced choice recognition. Saliva samples were taken before encoding and after memory testing to assess changes in cortisol. Stereotype threat had no effect on implicit or explicit memory, or the change in cortisol levels over time. However, there was a negative relationship between salivary cortisol levels and free recall in older men. We suggest that this finding may be explained by sex differences in reactivity and resilience to psychosocial stressors. Further, we discuss the difficulties involved with measuring stereotype-threat in older adults, who are often tested in youth-favouring settings.

The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging

Author: Ayanna K. Thomas

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-05-28

Total Pages: 1019

ISBN-13: 1108690742

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Decades of research have demonstrated that normal aging is accompanied by cognitive change. Much of this change has been conceptualized as a decline in function. However, age-related changes are not universal, and decrements in older adult performance may be moderated by experience, genetics, and environmental factors. Cognitive aging research to date has also largely emphasized biological changes in the brain, with less evaluation of the range of external contributors to behavioral manifestations of age-related decrements in performance. This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge cognitive aging research through the lens of a life course perspective that takes into account both behavioral and neural changes. Focusing on the fundamental principles that characterize a life course approach - genetics, early life experiences, motivation, emotion, social contexts, and lifestyle interventions - this handbook is an essential resource for researchers in cognition, aging, and gerontology.

Effects of Age- Related Stereotype Threat on Memory and Executive Function
Effects of Age- Related Stereotype Threat on Memory and Executive Function

Author: Natasha Y. Fourquet

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13:

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Recall performance is greatly affected when older adults are presented with stereotype threat regarding memory (See Lamont et al., 2015 for a review). Stereotype threat is a concern that one's performance will confirm negative stereotypes about one's group. In Study 1 (Chapter 2), we examined the effect of threat on metamemory processes and memory selectivity for high value information. Our findings showed that threat affected calibration (i.e., bets-recall, p=.045) and total score (p=.03), both which require metacognitive control. Our threat manipulation did not affect value. That is, both groups placed bets and recalled more high-value words than low and medium value words (p>.05). Metacognition goes hand in hand with executive control, thus it is possible that threat burdened both cognitive processes. Moreover, the effect of value was stronger than that of threat. In Study 2 (Chapter 3), we were interested in testing the effect of threat when the manipulation was done after encoding (i.e., prior to retrieval). We found no differences across groups in free recall or cued recall with this manipulation. However, we cannot refute the plausible effect of threat on retrieval given differences in experimental conditions (i.e., encoding time) between the current study and previous research. Taken together, our results provide partial support for executive function (See Chapter 2) as a possible mechanism of stereotype threat's effect on memory performance. We were interested in contributing to the growing body of literature on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie this disruption in performance. Study 3 (Chapter 4) aimed to assess the effect of different types of threat on executive function. Older adults were assigned to one of three conditions: a neutral, memory threat, or processing speed threat condition. Participants completed a task-switching paradigm, in which global, local, and alternating switch costs were examined. Reaction time and accuracy were used as dependent measures. Overall, participants displayed a pattern of performance that is consistent with the task switching literature. That is, older adults showed global and local switch costs (e.g., Mayr, 2001). Participants in the memory threat condition did not differ greatly from those in the neutral condition, while participants in the processing speed threat condition were significantly faster than the other two groups, (p=.03). We did not observe an interaction between trial type and group for local switch costs (p>.05). Group differences only emerged for global switch trials. It is possible that our processing speed threat manipulation may have prompted a reminder about the objective of the task. Taken together, incorporating value-based tasks into neuropsychological assessments would provide an improved objective measure of memory performance. Also, as suggested by Study 3 deemphasizing memory prior to a task of executive function may improve performance.

Ageist Stereotype Threat Effects on Memory and Metacognition in Older Adults
Ageist Stereotype Threat Effects on Memory and Metacognition in Older Adults

Author: Jessica T. Wong

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9781303423710

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Ageist stereotype threat reduces episodic memory accuracy in older adults, but less is known how stereotype threat affects other memory domains or the cognitive mechanisms that may underlie these effects. The goal of this dissertation was to explore how stereotype threat impacts episodic, semantic, and working memory, and the potential role of metacognition. Experiment 1 manipulated stereotype threat at retrieval during an episodic memory task, and also required older adults to complete semantic and working memory tasks under stereotype threat. For the episodic task, older adults under threat had lower recognition for studied items and semantically related nonstudied items than age-matched controls, implicating a conservative criterion shift. Threat did not affect semantic or working memory measures. Experiment 2 tested the generality of these effects using three different cognitive tests, and also manipulated stereotype threat at both encoding and retrieval for the episodic test. Threat at encoding increased source recollection confusions compared to controls, but threat at retrieval did not. Threat again failed to affect semantic memory, but sometimes impaired working memory. Metacognitive ratings were affected by both stereotype threat and task performance, but these effects depended on the format of the questionnaires. Taken together, these results suggest that ageist stereotype threat can differentially affect episodic memory at both encoding and retrieval, although these effects were not mediated by metacognition.

Psychology of Prejudice
Psychology of Prejudice

Author: Todd D. Nelson

Publisher: Guilford Publications

Published: 2023-12-20

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 1462553230

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"In this book, we examine the past and present research and theory on the motivations (the why), the situations and contexts (the when), the individual difference variables and traits (the who), and the affective and cognitive processes (the how) that lead to stereotyping and prejudice. The intent is to provide an in-depth and broad-ranging analysis of stereotyping and prejudice. The text focuses on understanding the issues, theories, and important empirical experiments that bear upon each problem in stereotyping and prejudice and to understand the most up-to-date research, theories, and conclusions of the leading researchers in the field. Stereotyping and prejudice are indeed complex in their origin, and one of the main goals of this book is to provide a coherent picture of the conditions under which stereotyping and prejudice are more (or less) likely to occur. Another primary focus is to examine whether (and how) stereotyping and prejudice can be reduced or eliminated"--

The Effects of Aging and Cognitive Strategies on Associative Memory
The Effects of Aging and Cognitive Strategies on Associative Memory

Author: Héloïse Drouin

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Young adults often outperform older adults on tests of associative memory, however, the source of this age-related associative memory deficit is still under debate. There are two main non-mutually exclusive hypotheses: 1) impaired binding processes (i.e. creating and retrieving links between units of information) and; 2) impaired strategic processes (i.e. cognitive control processes that support encoding and retrieval). Although both components are thought to contribute uniquely and interact to support associative memory, they have rarely been studied together. The primary goal of this dissertation is to further characterize associative memory deficits in healthy aging by measuring and controlling binding and strategic processes. Specifically, in this series of three experiments, we studied these two components concurrently by varying the level of demands on binding (i.e. comparing memory for different types of associations) and strategic processes (i.e. varying demands on self-initiated processes). A total N of 97 young adults and 94 older adults studied lists of object-pairs and object-location pairs under intentional encoding conditions. Demands on self-initiated processes were manipulated by increasing the number of foils at test (Experiment 1: 4 alternative forced-choice (AFC), vs. Experiment 2 & 3: 20AFC), and by providing strategy instructions in Experiment 3. We measured the production of strategies with trial-by-trial self-report. In all three experiments, we found that young adults outperformed older adults on object-object memory, but not on object-location memory. Older adults were just as proficient as young adults in generating strategies at study. This remained true even when demands on self-initiated processes increased. However, we found in all three experiments that young adults had greater strategy effectiveness (i.e. accuracy on pairs encoded with a strategy) on the object-object test. In contrast, performance on the object-location task was found to be less related to strategies. Our findings suggest that not all associations are equally affected by aging and that even when strategy production is equivalent between age groups older adults can still be impaired on associative memory. The secondary goal of this dissertation was to explore the contribution of individual variability in age, general cognitive functioning, meta-memory and executive functioning on object-object and object-location memory, strategy production, and strategy effectiveness. Our results highlight the important contribution of executive functioning over and above any effects of age in explaining age-related associative memory decline.