Activating Aging Stereotypes Increases Source Recollection Confusions in Older Adults: Effect at Encoding but Not Retrieval.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Activating aging stereotypes can impair older adult performance on episodic memory tasks, an effect attributed to stereotype threat. Here, we report the first study comparing the effects of explicitly activating aging stereotypes at encoding versus retrieval on recollection accuracy in older adults.

Method

During the encoding phase, older adults made semantic judgments about words, and during the retrieval phase, they had to recollect these judgments. To manipulate stereotype activation, participants read about aging-related decline (stereotype condition) or an aging-neutral passage (control condition), either before encoding or after encoding but before retrieval. We also assessed stereotype effects on metacognitive beliefs and two secondary tasks (working memory

SUBMITTER: Wong JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7330457 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature