TY - JOUR
T1 - Semantic and self-referential processing of positive and negative trait adjectives in older adults
AU - Glisky, Elizabeth L.
AU - Marquine, Maria J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Address correspondence to: Elizabeth L. Glisky PhD, Department of Psychology, 1503 E. University Blvd., University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. E-mail: [email protected] This research was supported by a pilot project grant from the Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center, National Institute on Aging, and by National Institute on Aging Grant AG14792. We thank Katrin Walther for assistance with data processing and analysis, and Casey Catlin, Carolyn Langlois, and Tiffany Lupton-Stegall for help in data collection.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The beneficial effects of self-referential processing on memory have been demonstrated in numerous experiments with younger adults but have rarely been studied in older individuals. In the present study we tested young people, younger-older adults, and older-older adults in a self-reference paradigm, and compared self-referential processing to general semantic processing. Findings indicated that older adults over the age of 75 and those with below average episodic memory function showed a decreased benefit from both semantic and self-referential processing relative to a structural baseline condition. However, these effects appeared to be confined to the shared semantic processes for the two conditions, leaving the added advantage for self-referential processing unaffected These results suggest that reference to the self engages qualitatively different processes compared to general semantic processing. These processes seem relatively impervious to age and to declining memory and executive function, suggesting that they might provide a particularly useful way for older adults to improve their memories.
AB - The beneficial effects of self-referential processing on memory have been demonstrated in numerous experiments with younger adults but have rarely been studied in older individuals. In the present study we tested young people, younger-older adults, and older-older adults in a self-reference paradigm, and compared self-referential processing to general semantic processing. Findings indicated that older adults over the age of 75 and those with below average episodic memory function showed a decreased benefit from both semantic and self-referential processing relative to a structural baseline condition. However, these effects appeared to be confined to the shared semantic processes for the two conditions, leaving the added advantage for self-referential processing unaffected These results suggest that reference to the self engages qualitatively different processes compared to general semantic processing. These processes seem relatively impervious to age and to declining memory and executive function, suggesting that they might provide a particularly useful way for older adults to improve their memories.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=60549103750&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=60549103750&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09658210802077405
DO - 10.1080/09658210802077405
M3 - Article
C2 - 18608973
AN - SCOPUS:60549103750
SN - 0965-8211
VL - 17
SP - 144
EP - 157
JO - Memory
JF - Memory
IS - 2
ER -