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Abstract
The influence of available processing resources on the resistance to false memories (FMs) for lists of semantically related items associated with a non-presented critical lure was examined in younger and older adults. Reducing the available resources at encoding in younger adults (Experiments 1 and 2) led to a performance similar to that of older adults (i.e., higher rates of FMs in addition to reduced rates of correct recall). However, increasing the available resources (Experiments 2 and 3) led to improvements in the rates of correct recall in both age groups and decreased the probability of FMs in younger adults, although warnings had to be added in older adults to obtain similar effects on FMs. Parallel influences on a post-recall test asking participants to report items that they had thought of but did not recall were also found. The influence of available cognitive resources for memory accuracy is also discussed with respect to activation-monitoring (e.g., McDermott & Watson, Citation2001) and fuzzy-trace (e.g., Brainerd & Reyna, Citation2002) accounts of age-related increased in false memories.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Serge Brédart, Fabienne Collette, Timothy Odegard, Todd C. Jones, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and valuable comments on an earlier version of the paper. The present study was supported by a research grant from the government of the French Speaking Community of Belgium (Convention: ARC 99/04-246).
Notes
1The author thanks the reviewers for bringing these suggestions to her attention.
2The author thanks the reviewers for bringing these suggestions to her attention.