Episodic Encoding in Normal Aging: Attentional Resources Hypothesis Extended to Musical Material

ABSTRACT

The goal of the present study was to examine age-related changes in musical episodic memory for novel tunes. This was conducted by manipulating the encoding condition in a recognition paradigm. After receiving memory instructions (intentional condition), older and younger participants obtained equivalent hits. In contrast, when intentional encoding was accompanied by a dancing judgment (dancing + intentional condition), the recognition performance of the older persons was severely impaired. Impaired recognition was also found when participants only judged the excerpts without being instructed to memorize them (dancing judgment condition). Although older participants demonstrated a preserved ability to perform the dancing judgment on its own, this ability was not optimal and likely precluded the initiation of more elaborate encoding strategies. These results suggest that asking older persons to divide their attention in the study phase reduces the quality of their musical encoding. Given this extension to musical material, we discuss the notion that the age-related attentional resource decline appears to be domain-general rather than specific to verbal material.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship to S. Blanchet from the Foundation of the Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal and Groupe de Recherche en Neuropsychologie Expérimentale et Cognition, and by a CIHR grant and a FRSQ Chercheur-Boursier fellowship to S. Belleville. We thank Bernard Bouchard for his help with the technical aspects of the project, Gaëtane Chapelle for assisting with data collection, Francine Giroux for statistical support, and Janet Boseovski for editing.