Age Deficits in Associative Memory Are Not Alleviated by Multisensory Paradigms

Badham, Stephen P.; Atkin, Christopher; Stacey, Jemaine E.; Henshaw, Helen; Allen, Harriet A.; Roberts, Katherine L.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Age deficits in memory are widespread, this affects individuals at a personal level, and investigating memory has been a key focus in cognitive aging research. Age deficits occur in memory for an episode, where information from the environment is integrated through the senses into an episodic event via associative memory. Associating items in memory has been shown to be particularly difficult for older adults but can often be alleviated by providing support from the external environment. The current investigation explored the potential for increased sensory input (multimodal stimuli) to alleviate age deficits in associative memory. Here, we present compelling evidence, supported by Bayesian analysis, for a null age-by-modality interaction. METHODS: Across three preregistered studies, young and older adults (n = 860) completed associative memory tasks either in single modalities or in multimodal formats. Study 1 used either visual text (unimodal) or video introductions (multimodal) to test memory for name-face associations. Studies 2 and 3 tested memory for paired associates. Study 2 used unimodal visual presentation or cross-modal visual-auditory word pairs in a cued recall paradigm. Study 3 presented word pairs as visual only, auditory only, or audiovisual and tested memory separately for items (individual words) or associations (word pairings). RESULTS: Typical age deficits in associative memory emerged, but these were not alleviated by multimodal presentation. DISCUSSION: The lack of multimodal support for associative memory indicates that perceptual manipulations are less effective than other forms of environmental support at alleviating age deficits in associative memory.

Citation

Badham, S. P., Atkin, C., Stacey, J. E., Henshaw, H., Allen, H. A., & Roberts, K. L. (2024). Age Deficits in Associative Memory Are Not Alleviated by Multisensory Paradigms. Journals of Gerontology, Series B, 79(7), Article gbae063. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae063

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 20, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 25, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-07
• Deposit Date: Apr 27, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 30, 2024
• Journal: The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
• Print ISSN: 1079-5014
• Electronic ISSN: 1758-5368
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 79
• Issue: 7
• Article Number: gbae063
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae063
• Keywords: Episodic Memory, Multisensory stimuli, Associative deficit hypothesis, Sensory deficits, Paired associates
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/34111531
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/79/7/gbae063/7658187