The Effect of Prior Task Success on Older Adults’ Memory Performance: Examining the Influence of Different Types of Task Success

Abstract

Background/Study Context: Negative aging stereotypes can lead older adults to perform poorly on memory tests. Yet, memory performance can be improved if older adults have a single successful experience on a cognitive test prior to participating in a memory experiment (Geraci & Miller, 2013, Psychology and Aging, 28, 340–345). The current study examined the effects of different types of prior task experience on subsequent memory performance.

Methods: Before participating in a verbal free recall experiment, older adults in Experiment 1 successfully completed either a verbal or a visual cognitive task or no task. In Experiment 2, they successfully completed either a motor task or no task before participating in the free recall experiment.

Results: Results from Experiment 1 showed that relative to control (no prior task), participants who had prior success, either on a verbal or a visual task, had better subsequent recall performance. Experiment 2 showed that prior success on a motor task, however, did not lead to a later memory advantage relative to control.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that older adults’ memory can be improved by a successful prior task experience so long as that experience is in a cognitive domain.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank Kathleen Longsworth, Kaitlyn Legg, Denny Dai, Angie Drye, and Sharon Joncyk Stone for their help with data collection.

FUNDING

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039502, awarded to L.G.).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG039502, awarded to L.G.).