ABSTRACT

In visual short-term binding memory tasks, some studies suggested that aging disrupts relational binding more than conjunctive binding, whereas others report equivalent age-related differences in both types of binding. Yet, demands in controlled resources are potentially the greatest for relational short-term binding. In order to test the hypothesis that aging would affect preferentially tasks demanding in controlled processes, we assessed the contribution of controlled and automatic memory processes to relational and conjunctive short-term binding. Groups of young and older adults studied shape–colour (Exp.1 and 3) or object–colour (Exp.2) pairs in a relational condition in which items were linked to colour patches and a conjunctive condition where colour was integrated into the items. Memory for bindings was tested with a reconstruction task (Exp. 1 and 2) or with a recognition memory task (Exp. 3) under inclusion and exclusion instructions (Process Dissociation Procedure). The three experiments showed that the retrieval of both relational and conjunctive bindings relied primarily on controlled memory processes, the use of which was diminished in older participants. This study brings additional evidence that age-related differences in top-down control processes explain at least partly decreased short-term binding capacities.

摘要

在视觉短期结合记忆任务中，一些研究表明，衰老对关系结合的破坏多于联合结合，而另一些研究则报告说，两种类型的结合在年龄相关的差异方面相当。然而，对受控资源的需求可能是关系短期绑定的最大需求。为了检验衰老会优先影响受控过程中要求的优先任务的假设，我们评估了受控和自动记忆过程对关系和连接短期绑定的贡献。年轻人和老年人组研究形状-颜色（Exp.1 和 3）或物体-颜色（Exp.2）对的关系条件，其中项目与色块相关联，以及将颜色整合到项目中的连接条件. 在包含和排除指令（过程分离程序）下，使用重建任务（实验 1 和 2）或识别记忆任务（实验 3）测试绑定记忆。这三个实验表明，关系绑定和连接绑定的检索主要依赖于受控的记忆过程，而老年参与者对记忆过程的使用减少了。这项研究提供了额外的证据，即自上而下控制过程中与年龄相关的差异至少可以部分解释短期结合能力的降低。老年参与者的使用减少了。这项研究提供了额外的证据，即自上而下控制过程中与年龄相关的差异至少可以部分解释短期结合能力的降低。老年参与者的使用减少了。这项研究提供了额外的证据，即自上而下控制过程中与年龄相关的差异至少可以部分解释短期结合能力的降低。