A COMPARISON BETWEEN YOUNG AND ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH RESPECT TO EMOTIONAL MEMORY FUNCTIONS

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this study is to investigate effects of testing time and emotional valence of words on implicit and explicit memory in young and elderly individuals. Materials and Method: After valence words were presented to 240 subjects composed of adolescents (11-14), early adults (25-25) and elderly people (65 and above) performance of word stem completion and free recall were tested. Results: Main effects of the age, testing time and valence of words on implicit and explicit memory were significant. While the dual effects of age and valence; testing time and valence were found significant in implicit memory, the dual effects of testing time and age; testing time and valence were also significant in explicit memory. Moreover, the triad effects of these variables on explicit memory were also found significant. Conclusion: Performance of explicit and implicit memory, in other words conscious and inconscious retrieval declines with aging. Emotional content affects explicit and implicit memory in all ages and positive stimulations are retrieved better. The increase in performance of implicit memory brought about by positive words in all groups was interpreted as inclination of the memory inconsciously towards positive words showing a "positivity effect".