Proactive interference effects on ageing: Is inhibition a factor?

Abstract

Elderly people show memory deficits over short retention intervals. One proposed explanation for this effect is that the elderly have problems with inhibiting irrelevant material. To test this proposition, younger and older adults were compared on a short-term cued recall task in which proactive interference (PI) was manipulated. From the inhibition perspective, elderly people were expected to be more susceptible to PI than the younger group. While there were age differences in absolute levels of performance, there was no evidence for differential susceptibility to PI. The error patterns were the same for both groups, suggesting that, over short retention intervals, inhibition processes do not deteriorate with age.