Age Differences in Processing Relevant Versus Irrelevant Stimuli in Multiple-Item Recognition Learning

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Abstract
Age differences in the processing of relevant stimuli were examined under two levels of irrelevant stimulation. The relevant stimuli were the right words of a multiple-item recognition learning task; the two levels of irrelevant stimulation were provided by the pairing of one wrong word (two-alternative items) versus three wrong words (four-alternative items) with each right word. Elderly subjects were inferior to young adults in the learning of four-alternative items, but not in the learning of two-alternative items. This finding supports the hypothesis, derived from previous research on perceptual tasks, that elderly adults direct greater amounts of attention to irrelevant stimuli than do young adults, thus reducing the amount of processing available for the accompanying relevant stimuli. However, despite their presumed greater attention to irrelevant stimuli, elderly subjects recognized fewer individual wrong words on a subsequent memory test than did young adults. This age-related effect was interpreted in terms of depth of processing theory.

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