Encoding variability and age-related retrieval failures.

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Abstract
The hypothesis that an age-related decrease in consistency of processing may contribute to age-related deficits in episodic remembering was examined in 2 experiments. Older and younger adults generated properties to a series of target words on 2 occasions. Encoding variability was determined by calculating the degree of intra- and intersubject overlap of properties generated on both occasions. Experiment 1 showed that older adults' interpretations varied more than those of younger adults. Furthermore, older adults were less idiosyncratic in their descriptions than were younger adults. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern of results and showed that the observed age-related decrease in consistency of processing was associated with age-related retrieval failures. An age-related decrease in distinctiveness of encoding was proposed as a factor underlying age differences in consistency that, in turn, is assumed to contribute to age-related deficits in episodic remembering.

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