Adult age differences in recall of a moral dilemma under intentional, incidental and dual task instructions

Abstract

Age changes in memory discourse were examined under conditions where participants were asked to listen to a passage about a moral dilemma: (a) for later recall of main ideas and details (Intentional Recall); (b) to propose solutions for it (Incidental Recall), or (c) to do both (Dual Task). Sixty young (19–32 years) and 60 old (60–76 years) adults participated, 20 of each age in each condition. Older adults gave fewer verbatim responses but more inferences, elaborations and overgeneralizations, an outcome which contrasted with earlier findings that older adults cannot process implied meanings. Verbatim recall was lower with Dual Task than with Intentional Recall instructions, suggesting that doing two tasks required more processing capacity, but there were no age x condition interactions with any measure. The results were discussed in relation to possible age decrements in processing capacity and possible age differences in interpreting the recall instructions.