Publication Cover
Experimental Aging Research
An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process
Volume 45, 2019 - Issue 2
547
Views
8
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Resolving Age-Related Differences in Working Memory: Equating Perception and Attention Makes Older Adults Remember as Well as Younger Adults

, , , &
Pages 120-134 | Received 15 Mar 2017, Accepted 16 Sep 2018, Published online: 08 Mar 2019

References

  • Ackerman, P. L., Beier, M. E., & Boyle, M. O. (2005). Working memory and intelligence. The same or different constructs? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 30–60.
  • Anstey, K., Stankov, L., & Lord, S. (1993). Primary aging, secondary aging, and intelligence. Psychology and Aging, 8, 562–570.
  • Baldwin, C. L., & Ash, I. K. (2011). Impact of sensory acuity on auditory working memory span in young and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 26(1), 85–91. doi:10.1037/a0020360
  • Basak, C., & Verhaeghen, P. (2011). Aging and switching the focus of attention in working memory: Age differences in item availability, but not item accessibility. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 66, 519–526. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbr028
  • Betts, L. R., Sekuler, A. B., & Bennett, P. J. (2007). The effects of aging on orientation discrimination. Vision Research, 47, 1769–1780. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2007.02.016
  • Bopp, K. L., & Verhaeghen, P. (2005). Aging and verbal memory span: A meta-analysis. The Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60, 223–233. doi:10.1093/geronb/60.5.P223
  • Bopp, K. L., & Verhaeghen, P. (2009). Working memory and aging: Separating the effects of content and context. Psychology and Aging, 24, 968–980. doi:10.1037/a0017731
  • Bopp, K. L., & Verhaeghen, P. (2018). Aging and N-Back performance: A meta-analysis. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. doi:10.1093/geronb/gby024
  • Brockmole, J. R., Parra, M. A., Della Sala, S., & Logie, R. H. (2008). Do binding deficits account for age-related decline in visual working memory?. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 543–547. doi:10.3758/PBR.15.3.543
  • Brown, L. A., Brockmole, J. R., Gow, A. J., & Deary, I. J. (2012). Processing speed and visuospatial executive function predict visual working memory ability in older adults. Experimental Aging Research, 38, 1–19. doi:10.1080/0361073X.2012.636722
  • Cerella, J., Poon, L. W., & Williams, D. H. (1980). Age and the complexity hypothesis. In L. W. Poon (Ed.), Aging in the 1980s (pp. 332–340). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Chen, T., & Li, D. (2007). The roles of working memory updating and processing speed in mediating age-related differences in fluid intelligence. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 14, 631–646. doi:10.1080/13825580600987660
  • Chen, T., & Naveh-Benjamin, M. (2012). Assessing the associative deficit of older adults in long-term and short-term/working memory. Psychology and Aging, 27, 666–682. doi:10.1037/a0026943
  • Conway, A. R., Cowan, N., Bunting, M. F., Therriault, D. J., & Minkoff, S. R. (2002). A latent variable analysis of working memory capacity, short-term memory capacity, processing speed, and general fluid intelligence. Intelligence, 30, 163–183. doi:10.1016/S0160-2896(01)00096-4
  • Cowan, N. (1995). Attention and memory: An integrated framework. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Edden, R. A., Muthukumaraswamy, S. D., Freeman, T. C., & Singh, K. D. (2009). Orientation discrimination performance is predicted by GABA concentration and gamma oscillation frequency in human primary visual cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 15721–15726. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4426-09.2009
  • Engle, R. W., Kane, M. J., & Tuholski, S. W. (1999). Individual differences in working memory capacity and what they tell us about controlled attention, general fluid intelligence, and functions of the prefrontal cortex. In A. Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.),Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 102–134). New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press
  • Fanuel, L., Plancher, G., Monsaingeon, N., Tillmann, B., & Portrat, S. (2018). Temporal dynamics of maintenance in young and old adults. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1111/nyas.13640
  • Faust, M. E., Balota, D. A., Spieler, D. H., & Ferraro, F. R. (1999). Individual differences in information-processing rate and amount: Implications for group differences in response latency. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 777–799.
  • Guest, D., Howard, C., Brown, L. A., & Gleeson, H. (2015). Aging and the rate of visual information processing. Journal of Vision, 15, 1–25. doi:10.1167/15.14.10
  • Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 22, pp. 193–225). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  • Jain, S. (2018). Understanding the training and transfer effects in N-Back training (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
  • Jarosz, A. F., & Wiley, J. (2014). What are the odds? A practical guide to computing and reporting Bayes factors. The Journal of Problem Solving, 7, 2–9. doi:10.7771/1932-6246.1167
  • Kane, M. J., Conway, A. R. A., Miura, T. K., & Colflesh, G. J. H. (2007). Working memory, attention control, and the N-back task: A cautionary tale of construct validity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 615–622. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.3.615
  • Kemper, S., Herman, R., & Lian, C. (2003). Age differences in sentence production. The Journals of Gerontology. Psychological Sciences, 58, 260–268.
  • Kiely, K., & Anstey, K. (2015). Common cause theory in aging. In N. A. Pachana (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Geropsychology (pp. 59–69). Singapore: Springer Science + Business Media.
  • Kilb, A., & Naveh-Benjamin, M. (2015). The effects of divided attention on long-term memory and working memory in younger and older adults: Assessment of the reduced attentional resources hypothesis. In R. H. Logie & R. G. Morris (Eds.), Current issues in memory. Working memory and ageing (pp. 48–78). New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.
  • Kyllonen, P. C. (1996). Is working memory capacity Spearman’s g? In I.Dennis & P. Tapsfield (Eds.), Human abilities: Their nature and measurement (pp. 49–75). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
  • Li, K. Z., & Lindenberger, U. (2002). Relations between aging sensory/sensorimotor and cognitive functions. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 26, 777–783. doi:10.1016/S0149-7634(02)00073-8
  • Lindenberger, U., & Baltes, P. B. (1994). Sensory functioning and intelligence in old age: A strong connection. Psychology and Aging, 9, 339–355.
  • Loaiza, V. M., Rhodes, M. G., & Anglin, J. (2013). The influence of age-related differences in prior knowledge and attentional refreshing opportunities on episodic memory. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 70, 729–736. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbt119
  • Lustig, C., Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (2007). Inhibitory deficit theory: Recent developments in a “new view”. In D. S. Gorfein & C. M. MacLeod (Eds.), The place of inhibition in cognition (pp. 145–162). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Macmillan, N. A., & Kaplan, H. L. (1985). Detection theory analysis of group data: Estimating sensitivity from average hit and false-alarm rates. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 185–199.
  • Noack, H., Lövdén, M., Schmiedek, F., & Lindenberger, U. (2012). Cognitive plasticity in adulthood and old age: Gauging the generality of cognitive intervention effects. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 27, 435–453.
  • Oberauer, K. (2002). Access to information in working memory: Exploring the focus of attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 411–421.
  • Oberauer, K., Süβ, H. M., Wilhelm, O., & Wittmann, W. W. (2008). Which working memory functions predict intelligence? Intelligence, 36, 641–652.
  • Peich, M.-C., Husain, M., & Bays, P. M. (2013). Age-related decline of precision and binding in visual working memory. Psychology and Aging, 28, 729–743. doi:10.1037/a0033236
  • Pertzov, Y., Heider, M., Liang, Y., & Husain, M. (2015). Effects of healthy ageing on precision and binding of object location in visual short term memory. Psychology and Aging, 30, 26–35. doi:10.1037/a0038396
  • Porto, F. H., Tusch, E. S., Fox, A. M., Alperin, B. R., Holcomb, P. J., & Daffner, K. R. (2016). One of the most well-established age-related changes in neural activity disappears after controlling for visual acuity. Neuroimage, 130, 115–122. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.01.035
  • Price, J., Colflesh, G. J. H., Cerella, J., & Verhaeghen, P. (2014). Making working memory work: The effects of extended practice on focus capacity and the processes of updating, forward access, and random access. Acta Psychologica, 148, 19–24. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.12.008
  • Rabbitt, P. M. A. (1968). Channel capacity, intelligibility and immediate memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20, 241–248. doi:10.1080/14640746808400158
  • Salthouse, T. A., & Czaja, S. (2000). Structural constraints on process explanations in cognitive aging. Psychology and Aging, 15, 44–55. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.15.1.44
  • Salthouse, T. A., & Pink, J. E. (2008). Why is working memory related to fluid intelligence? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 364–371.
  • Schaie, K. W., Baltes, P., & Strother, C. R. (1964). A study of auditory sensitivity in advanced age. Journal of Gerontology, 19, 453–457.
  • Schmiedek, F., Hildebrandt, A., Lövdén, M., Wilhelm, O., & Lindenberger, U. (2009). Complex span versus updating tasks of working memory: The gap is not that deep. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35, 1089–1096. doi:10.1037/a0015730
  • Schneider, B. A., & Pichora-Fuller, M. K. (2000). Implications of perceptual deterioration for cognitive aging research. In F. I. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 155–219). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Unsworth, N., & Spillers, G. J. (2010). Working memory capacity: Attention control, secondary memory, or both? A direct test of the dual-component model. Journal of Memory and Language, 62, 392–406. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2010.02.001
  • Vaughan, L., Basak, C., Hartman, M., & Verhaeghen, P. (2008). Aging and working memory inside and outside the focus of attention: Dissociations of availability and accessibility. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 15, 703–724. doi:10.1080/13825580802061645
  • Verhaeghen, P. (2011). Aging and executive control: Reports of a demise greatly exaggerated. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 174–180. doi:10.1177/0963721411408772
  • Verhaeghen, P. (2012). Working memory still working: Age-related differences in working memory and executive control. In N. Ohta & M. Naveh-Benjamin (Eds.), Memory and Aging (pp. 3-30). New York: Psychology Press.
  • Verhaeghen, P. (2014). The elements of cognitive aging: Meta-analyses of age-related differences in processing speed and their consequences. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Verhaeghen, P., & Basak, C. (2005). Aging and switching of the focus of attention in working memory: Results from a modified N-Back task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (A), 58, 134–154. doi:10.1080/02724980443000241
  • Verhaeghen, P., Cerella, J., & Basak, C. (2004). A working memory workout: How to change to size of the focus of attention from one to four in ten hours or less. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 1322–1337. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.30.6.1322
  • Verhaeghen, P., & Hoyer, W. J. (2007). Aging, focus switching and task switching in a continuous calculation task: Evidence toward a new working memory control process. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 14, 22–39. doi:10.1080/138255890969357
  • Verhaeghen, P., Steitz, D. W., Sliwinski, M. J., & Cerella, J. (2003). Aging and dual-task performance: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 18, 443–460. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.443
  • Verhaeghen, P., & Zhang, Y. (2013). What is still working in working memory in old age: Dual tasking and resistance to interference do not explain age-related item loss after a focus switch. Journals of Gerontology, 68, 762–770. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbs119
  • Voigt, S., & Hagendorf, H. (2002). The role of task context for component processes in focus switching. Psychologische Beiträge, 44, 248–274.
  • Watson, A. B., & Pelli, D. G. (1983). QUEST: A Bayesian adaptive psychometric method. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 33(2), 113–120. doi:10.3758/BF03202828
  • West, R. L. (1996). An application of prefrontal cortex function theory to cognitive aging. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 272–292. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.120.2.272
  • Wingfield, A., Tun, P. A., & McCoy, S. L. (2005). Hearing loss in older adulthood what it is and how it interacts with cognitive performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 144–148. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00356.x
  • Zanto, T. P., & Gazzaley, A. (2014). Attention and aging. In A. C. Nobre & S. Kastner (Eds.), Handbook of attention (pp. 927–971). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Zhang, Y., Verhaeghen, P., & Cerella, J. (2012). Working memory at work: How the updating process alters the nature of memory encoding. Acta Psychologia, 139, 77–83. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.10.012

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.