HOW DO OLDER AND YOUNGER ADULTS DIFFER IN DIRECTED FORGETTING?

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of the present study is to compare younger and older adults in terms of directed forgetting, using both abstract and concrete memory materials. Materials and Method: 50 healthy younger (aged 17-24 years) and 46 healthy older (aged 65-84 years) volunteers were included in the study. After a directed forgetting study phase in which abstract and concrete words were presented, the participants were given recall and recognition tasks. Results: In the light of ANOVA results, the main (p <0.001 0.01, in recall respectively; p <0.001 0.01 and 0.01, in recognition respectively) and interaction effects of age, instruction type and concreteness level in both recall and recognition were found to be significant (p <0.01 0.001 and 0.001, in recall respectively; p <0.001 0.01 and 0.001, in recognition respectively), except for the main effect of concreteness level in recall (p=0.11). Conclusion: It was concluded that the younger subjects showed an abstractness effect only in recall tasks, while the older participants displayed a concreteness effect in both recall and recognition tasks. Thus, the mind that tends to retrieve abstract materials in youth tends to retrieve more concrete materials in old age. In addition, with aging, people tend to process more irrelevant information by disrupting the inhibition mechanism.