ABSTRACT

A growing body of research illustrates that working memory capacity is a crucial limiting factor in our ability to follow spoken instructions. Despite the ubiquitous nature of instruction following throughout the lifespan, how the natural ageing process affects the ability to do so is not yet fully understood. In this study, we investigated the consequences of action at encoding and recall on the ability to follow spoken instructions. Younger (< 30 y/o) and older (> 65 y/o) adults recalled sequences of spoken action commands under presentation and recall conditions that either did or did not involve their physical performance. Both groups showed an enacted-recall advantage, with superior recall by physical performance than oral repetition. When both encoding and recall were purely verbal, older adults’ recall accuracy was comparable to that of their younger counterparts. When action was involved at either encoding or recall, however, the difference in performance between the two age groups became pronounced: enactment-based encoding significantly improved younger adults’ ability to follow spoken instructions; there was no such advantage for older adults. These data show that spatial-motoric representations disproportionately benefit younger adults’ memory performance. We discuss the practical implications of these findings in the context of lifelong learning.

摘要

越来越多的研究表明，工作记忆能力是我们遵循口头指令能力的一个关键限制因素。尽管在整个生命周期中遵循指令无处不在，但自然衰老过程如何影响这样做的能力尚不完全清楚。在这项研究中，我们调查了编码和回忆行为对遵循口头指令能力的影响。年轻（< 30 岁）和年长（> 65 岁）的成年人回忆在演示和回忆条件下的口头动作命令序列，这些条件要么涉及他们的身体表现，要么不涉及他们的身体表现。两组都表现出实施回忆的优势，身体表现的回忆优于口头重复。当编码和回忆都纯粹是语言时，老年人的回忆准确率与他们的年轻人相当。然而，当行动涉及编码或回忆时，两个年龄组之间的表现差异变得明显：基于行为的编码显着提高了年轻人遵循口头指令的能力；老年人没有这样的优势。这些数据表明，空间运动表征不成比例地有益于年轻人的记忆表现。我们讨论了这些发现在终身学习背景下的实际意义。老年人没有这样的优势。这些数据表明，空间运动表征不成比例地有益于年轻人的记忆表现。我们讨论了这些发现在终身学习背景下的实际意义。老年人没有这样的优势。这些数据表明，空间运动表征不成比例地有益于年轻人的记忆表现。我们讨论了这些发现在终身学习背景下的实际意义。