EFFECTS OF MEMORY INDUCTION ON MEMORY ENCODING AND RETRIEVAL

Abstract

This paper addresses the role of episodic memory induction on memory encoding and retrieval in younger and older adults. This study had 70 participants: 40 young and 30 older, both split into an experimental (episodic specificity induction) group and a control (gist based) group. All participants were asked to recall an event from their life in which they were personally involved and then, based on their pre-assigned condition, were asked questions about the memory either in the episodic specificity interview, or the gist based interview. Afterwards, participants participated in a visuospatial event memory test that consisted of a series of videos, then a filler task designed to distract participants, then were asked to recall as many details about the videos as they could. The number of details recalled served as the dependent variable in the study. The results were that the young adults who had the episodic specificity induction recalled more details compared to the gist based group. There was no significant difference between memory performances in the older adults. Additional probing did not eliminate the advantage for the episodic specificity group in the young adults, the idea that an episodic encoding mode was induced in this group was supported.