Age-related differences in guessing on free and forced recall tests

Abstract

This study examined possible age-related differences in recall, guessing, and metacognition on free recall tests and forced recall tests. Participants studied categorised and unrelated word lists and were asked to recall the items under one of the following test conditions: standard free recall, free recall with a penalty for guessing, free recall with no penalty for guessing, or forced recall. The results demonstrated interesting age differences regarding the impact of liberal test instructions (i.e., forced recall and no penalty) relative to more conservative test instructions (i.e., standard free recall and penalty) on memory performance. Specifically, once guessing was controlled, younger adults’ recall of categorised lists varied in accordance with test instructions while older adults’ recall of categorised lists did not differ between conservative and liberal test instructions, presumably because older adults approach standard free recall tests of categorised lists with a greater propensity towards guessing than young adults.

Keywords:

• Ageing
• Free recall
• Forced recall
• Confidence ratings

Acknowledgements

This research was completed to fulfil the Master's Thesis requirements at Montana State University for the first author. This research was supported through a Research and Creativity Grant awarded to Michelle L. Meade and Keith A. Hutchison at Montana State University. We thank Sara Davis and Jim Barber for help in running participants. Additionally we thank Roddy Roediger for helpful comments regarding the methodology of this project, and Richard Block for comments on earlier drafts.