AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
Running head: AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well:
The Impacts of Age on Memory for Emotional Stimuli
Jamie Feigenbaum
Cornell University
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Abstract
As people age, cognitive abilities decline, while emotional processing abilities remain
intact, or even improve (e.g., Fung & Carstensen, 2003). This experiment examined the influence
of emotion on the recall of false semantic memories in older adults. The participants were a
group of older adults (N= 32; range= 64-92 years) and a complementary group of younger adults
(N=33; range= 18-27 years). All participants completed an adapted version of the
Deese/Roediger/McDermott (1995) task that incorporated words of varying emotional valence,
to examine their levels of true and false memory for auditory stimuli. Older adults demonstrated
more false memory for positively-valenced stimuli. The implications of these results are
discussed with respect to changes in emotional processing across the life-span.
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Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well: The Impacts of Age on Memory for Emotional Stimuli
“You know, you remind me of a poem I can't remember, and a song that may never have existed,
and a place I'm not sure I've ever been to” –Grampa Simpson
When Grampa Simpson speaks the above words in the popular animated television series,
“The Simpsons,” he reflects a classic stereotype of older adults (Groening & Brooks, 1992). He
is portrayed as having poor memory for episodic events, a lack of confidence in his own
autobiographical memory abilities, and a high level of gist memory (i.e., his memory lacks
specifics and, instead, encompasses a generalized notion of the meaning of the memory). In fact,
as Grampa admits, the event he remembers might not even have occurred; it could be a false
memory. By definition, false memories are errors of episodic recollection: people remember the
occurrence of specific events at particular times and places, although the events did not happen
then, if ever (Schacter, Israel, & Racine, 1999). While false episodic memories are often of
minor consequence, there are instances—such as false remembrance of certain medical
symptoms or failing to take a prescription pill—that might turn out to be fatal (see Reyna &
Lloyd, 1997, for examples of the impact of false memories on medical treatment), particularly in
the case older adults, a population known for increased reliance on medications (Coons,
Sheahan, & Martin, 1994).
According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2008), the number of individuals over the age of
65 will roughly double relative to 2004 by the year 2030. With such a staggering number of older
adults in the U.S. population, it is becoming crucial to understand the natural aging process, and
increasingly more important to debunk incorrect negative stereotypes about the senior members
of our society so that people can age with pride and respect. The graying of the Baby Boom
generation will have major implications for every U.S. citizen, since it is expected to lead to
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massive changes in public policies, health care, social security, and individual practices of the
senior members of our society (Knickman & Snell, 2002). The more that is known about the
cognitive and emotional changes that people face as they age, the more prepared our society will
be for what the future holds in store.
Recent findings in aging research have found that as people age normally, their cognitive
abilities decline, while their emotional processing abilities remain intact, or even improve (e.g.,
Fung & Carstensen, 2003; Kensinger, Piguet, Krendl, & Corkin, 2005). How well a person
remembers new information is determined by more than simple cognitive factors (such as shortterm memory capacity). Emotional influences participate as well—notably the interactions
between the emotional properties of the stimuli and the person’s emotional processing abilities
and biases (e.g., Kensinger, Garoff-Eaton, Schacter, 2007). This study examines the effect that
emotional processing in older adults has on their memory for emotionally-valenced information,
specifically the effect on false memories.
Cognitive Changes in Memory with Age & Fuzzy-Trace Theory
This study examined semantic memory (i.e., memory for meanings and general facts). A
central question raised in aging research is whether false memories increase in older adults (e.g.,
Kensinger & Schacter, 1999), and the answer has consistently been “yes” for the most important
type of everyday errors: semantic false memories. Semantic false memories are ones in which
erroneously recalled events fit well with the central meaning, or gist, of what was actually
experienced. For example, try to recall your high school prom. You think back and you have a
general memory of what transpired: you wore a fancy outfit, you went with a date, flowers were
exchanged, photos snapped, songs danced to, and dinner served. That is semantic, non-specific
memory. Now, think harder: what sort of flowers did your date get for you? You recall roses,
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when really they were carnations. That is an example of a semantic false memory—it makes
sense that flowers were exchanged, but the specific type of flower is recalled incorrectly.
The Deese/Roediger/McDermott (DRM) paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger, 1995) is a
commonly used paradigm to study such errors in gist processing. It is composed of two parts: a
listening section and a pen-and -paper memory exam. The listening section is composed of a list
of target words. These target words are the semantic associates of a critical, unspoken “root”
word (i.e., a critical distractor). In a study by Brainerd, Stein, Silveira, Rohenkohl, & Reyna,
(2008), on which this experiment is closely based, each list was generated in such a way that the
mean emotional valence of the root words (critical distractors) and the target words (those heard
by the participants) varied across the list types. In the exam portion, the memory for target words
was tested using a variety of probing questions. Based on the combination of words and question
probes, levels of true and false memory were able to be measured. In order to make consistent
and reliable comparisons to past research, the DRM was used in this investigation.
The current theoretical explanation for the increase of false memories with age relies on
the opponent-processes explained by fuzzy-trace theory (FTT; Reyna & Brainerd, 1995). It holds
that people store verbatim traces of target words, as well as gist traces of targets’ semantic
features (e.g., schemas that belong to broader categories), which might lead them to recall the
target word SALMON as well as the semantic memory for all types of fish. On memory tests,
retrieval of verbatim traces suppresses false memories, whereas retrieval of gist traces supports
false memories. Thus, the general explanation of age-related increases in false memory is that
verbatim memory for target words declines during aging, but gist memory for targets’ semantic
content remains intact (for a review, see Brainerd & Reyna, 2005).
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Studies based on direct observations indicate that older age is accompanied by cognitive
declines, especially in verbatim memory (i.e., memory for target words that were actually
presented), which leads older adults to rely more readily on gist—on the “fuzzy-trace”
pathways—when recalling information. At the same time, verbatim memory is not strong
enough to differentiate words that were legitimately presented from those that were not presented
but belong to a similar category (related words). Increased reliance on fuzzy-trace pathways is
considered to be the result of cognitive declines in the mental processing of older adults
(Brainerd et al., 2008).
Emotional Perspective on Aging with Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006; Carstensen, Isaacowitz, &
Charles, 1999) is a life-span theory of motivation, which predicts that as people age, their time
perspective changes. They come to view future time as limited, and so they place emphasis on
goals that are more emotionally meaningful, which means the ability to regulate emotions
becomes more important. Contemporary interpretations of SST hold that older adults not only
focus more on positive versus negative information and stimuli, but they also remember the
positive information more accurately.
The phenomenon of older adults selectively focusing on and remembering positive
information and stimuli in comparison to negative has come to be referred to in the literature as
the positivity effect, and evidence of this processing has emerged across memory types, in both
autobiographical memory, and working memory (e.g. Carstensen & Mikels, 2005; Mather &
Carstensen, 2005; Kennedy, Mather, & Carstensen, 2004; Mikels, Larkin, Reuter-Lorenz, &
Carstensen, 2005; Murphy & Isaacowitz, 2008). In contrast, younger adults in these studies
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showed better memory for negative material relative to positive material, a phenomenon referred
to as the negativity bias (Cacioppo & Berntson, 1994).
As noted above, another way that memory abilities change with age involves the
frequency of falsely remembered information. Aging is associated with an increased tendency to
make false recall and recognition errors (Koutstaal et al., 2003; Norman & Schacter, 1997;
Rankin & Kausler, 1979; Ross, Spencer, Linardatos, Lam, & Perunovic, 2004; Smith, 1975). The
postulates of SST predict that older adults should be more motivated to maintain positive
emotions, and would thus exhibit an especially strong positivity effect in their episodic memory,
demonstrating better recognition memory for positively rather than for negatively-valenced
words. However, when that bias is coupled with older people's propensity for false recall, it
would be predicted that older adults' false memories would also be positively biased. In
summary, it has been predicted that older adults will demonstrate higher levels of both true and
false memory for positively-valenced words compared to younger adults, while younger adults
would demonstrate the same pattern for negatively-valenced words.
These hypotheses are consistent with the evidence found by Fernandes, Ross, Wiegand,
and Schryer (2008) and Piguet, Connally, Krendel, Huot, and Corkin (2008) that the positivity
effect emerges with false memories for older adults. Both of these studies used a similar, but
less-detailed, recognition memory test for verbatim memory, testing participants with questions
that were scored only for accuracy, not for differences between true memories and gist memory.
They also did not control for differences in word arousal when they tested for differences
between word valences, which is important because valence simply means how negative or
positive does this word make you feel, while arousal incorporates a feeling for calmness and
excitability. Not controlling for arousal confounds measures of emotion. Since gist processing
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influences false memory more than true memory (Brainerd & Reyna, 2005), the positivity effect
should stand out most extremely on measures of false memory, and both true and false memory
were examined in this investigation.
The Current Study
While a cursory review of the literature seems to indicate that FFT and STT have
opposing theoretical hypotheses about aging effects on emotional memory, a closer look
demonstrates that these two theories actually operate on parallel fields, yielding similar
hypotheses. Alone, FTT predicts that emotionally-valenced words produce more gist memories
that tend to impair true memory, while SST posits that positively-valenced words lead to better
true memory in older adults, and better true memory for negatively-valenced stimuli in younger
adults. Combining these predictions, it was hypothesized that older adults would demonstrate
more true memories and more false memories for positively-valenced stimuli than younger
adults.
This study investigated the false memory of emotionally charged words in both older and
younger adult populations as a way of measuring changes in emotional memory over the adult
life span. The methodology and materials for this study followed very closely those used in the
study by Brainerd et al. (2008) that looked for false memory of emotionally charged words using
the DRM with young adults, and found that false memory levels were highest for negative
materials, intermediate for neutral materials, and lowest for positive materials—indicating that
even for young adults, positive stimuli were most accurately recalled. The current investigation
used the same words and the same randomization methods for examination, but it was run with
both young adults (ages 18-30) and older adults (64+). All the words were taken from the
Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW; Bradley & Lang, 1999) list, which provides a set
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of normative emotional ratings for a large number of words in the English language (scale from
1-9), or from the Nelson, McEvoy, and Schreiber (1999) list of norms for word associations. The
words that were selected varied in emotional valence while keeping emotional arousal controlled
across word lists.
Method
Participants
The participants in this study were 33 undergraduate students (M= 20.31 years; range=
18-27 years; 19 females) and 32 older adults (M= 75.75; range= 64-92 years; 23 females)
recruited from the Ithaca, New York, community. Young adults were tested on the Cornell
University campus and compensated with extra credit towards an academic class, while older
adults were tested at a local senior community center and compensated $10 for their time.
According to self-reported measures, both groups were equally matched for social economic
status (upper-middle class), and both groups averaged over 14 years of education, indicating
completion of high school and some attendance at college (approximately 2 years). The only
significant difference between the two groups was age (p < .001).
Materials
Using the format and words described by Brainerd et al. (2008), the root words and
corresponding sublists were composed of words from Bradley and Lang’s (1999) affective norms
for English words (ANEW), which were previously rated for valence and arousal on a 9-point
scale (Negative: 1-3; Neutral: 4-6; Positive: 7-9), and words from the Nelson, McEvoy, and
Schreiber (1999) list of norms for word associations. A pool of 15 root words was generated
along with a corresponding sublist of associated words, or words with similar meaning, to
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accompany each root word (e.g., if the root word was FIRE the short list might include BLAZE,
HOSE, WATER, SMOKE, etc.). For these root words, 5 were positively-valenced (M= 8.51), 5
were of neutral-valence (M= 5.40), and 5 were negatively-valenced (M= 3.13). Only the valence
of the root words differed; the mean arousal remained constant for control purposes (M= 5.16).
A recording of fifteen lists of words was made based on the root sublists. Each list
contained ten words associated with the root word, but never included the root word directly.
Each word on the recording was spaced 2 seconds apart and delivered in a neutral tone by a
human voice.
Six booklets were made from these root words and corresponding sublists, and the pool
of words were mathematically randomized by emotional valence, word type, and question probe
type. Each booklet contained 13 blocks of 9 words followed by statements with “yes” or “no”
prompts to indicate if the statement before it was true or false. Each participant was questioned
on 117 words. The emotional valence of the individual words on the exam were not dictated by
that word’s mean-valence on the ANEW, but rather by the emotional valence of the root word it
was derived from (e.g., the root word FIRE is a negatively-valenced word, so WATER by virtue
of connection, is considered negative), and each booklet contained on average 39 words with
positive roots, 39 words with neutral roots, and 39 words with negative roots.
Participants were tested on three different types of words: Target words, which were the
ones heard on the tape recording; Related words (“Critical Distractors”), which were not heard
on the tape recording but were related in meaning to the words that were on the recording (i.e.
these were the root words used to generate the sublists); and Unrelated Distractors, which were
not on the recording and had no similar meanings to the Target or Related words (See Appendix
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for a schematic diagram). These test words were randomly accompanied by one of the following
question probes: “It’s a word I heard on one of the lists” (Verbatim probe); “Not a word I heard,
but it’s related to one of the lists” (Gist probe); or “It’s either a word I heard or a word that’s
related to one of the lists” (Verbatim-Gist probe). Based on the given word, the statement, and
the participant’s memory, he or she then circled the corresponding “yes” or “no” to communicate
a response (See Appendix for test instructions and an example test block).
Apparatus
All auditory stimuli were played to participants using a Dell laptop with attached
speakers. The recording was played through iTunes. The recording was amplified though the
attached computer speakers, which were set at “medium” volume, and projected outward into the
testing room towards the group of participants.
Procedure
The experiment was composed of two parts: the listening segment and the exam segment.
During the listening segment, a group of participants listened to a recording of words. The
recording consisted of fifteen word lists; each list contained ten words (a total of 150 words) that
were presented in a block format so that all the words related to the same root word came in a
row. The blocks were randomized for each group of participants. Participants were asked not to
talk or write anything down during this portion of the study—just to listen and remember the
words. They were told that a memory test would follow the listening section.
After the recording, the exam segment began. Each participant was randomly assigned
one of the six, randomized booklets of words, and once the instructions were explained,
everyone was asked to fill out all of the questions in the test booklet. As mentioned above, each
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test booklet contained 117 randomized questions. Each question followed the same pattern: first
a word in capitals was given, then a statement followed, and finally a “yes” or “no” to be circled
to indicate whether the given statement was correct or not as it pertained to the word.
Each test session took approximately forty-five minutes to an hour to complete, with
varying time to allow for each participant to complete all of the questions at her or her own pace.
At the end of each session, participants were thanked and encouraged to ask any questions they
might have pertaining to the experiment.
Results
Because a strict measure of accuracy on the DRM would not provide a level of
participant’s false memories, each participant’s affirmative response (i.e., the number of times
they replied “yes” on the exam) to the variety of prompts (i.e., the combination of word type,
associated emotional valence of the root word, and the type of question probe being asked of
them) was analyzed (Brainerd, Wright, Reyna, & Mojardin, 2001).
In previous research looking at verbatim memory tests, it was observed that older adults
demonstrate a confirmation bias, disproportionately responding that “yes,” they heard a word.
This issue prompted the use of signal detection statistics to be applied to the data to remove this
bias (Budson et al., 2006). For this reason, signal detection statistics were run on the proportion
of affirmative responses elicited by each participant when faced with a particular type of prompt.
The analysis involved standardizing individual responses and calculating values of true memory
(d’) within subject (e.g., Sodgrass & Corwin, 1988), using the formula:
d’ = Z P(acceptance for valence/probe combination) – Z P(acceptance of corresponding combination for an unrelated-distractor)
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These d’ values were then averaged across participants for comparison of performance between
older and younger adult groups. The mean group d’-values for Target words are reported in
Table 2.1, and for Related words in Table 2.2.
Tables 1.1-1.3 show the mean proportions of “yes” responses for both age groups to the
variety of prompts when faced with Target words, Related words, and Unrelated-Distractor
words, respectively. Signal detection analysis was run on the data of the individual participants
represented in Tables 1.1-1.3 to generate Tables 2.1 and 2.2.
True memories and false memories were measured based on the combinations of word
type and question probe. When a Target word was presented, a “yes” answer to the Verbatim
probe (“It is a word I heard”) indicated correct recall of the spoken lists and thus a true memory.
Meanwhile, a “yes” answer to the Gist probe (“It is not a word I heard but related to one on the
list”) indicated incorrect recall and thus a false memory (because the target word was heard).
Conversely, when a Related word, which had not been heard, was presented, a “yes” answer to
the Verbatim probe indicated incorrect recall and thus a false memory (because the root word
was not said and thus not heard), and a “yes” answer to the Gist probe indicated correct recall
and thus true memory (because the subject was correct in saying that the word had not been
heard but was related to a spoken word).
Signal Detection Analysis of Responses When Target Words Were the Prompts
Analyses of variance (ANOVAS) were run on the d’-values for target words (words
heard during the listening phase), and age interactions were examined. Interactions were
examined in a 2 by 3 by 3 ANOVA incorporating the two different age groups, the three types of
emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative), and the three types of question probes (verbatim,
gist, and verbatim-gist). An examination of valence by age interactions yielded non-significant
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results: F (2, 62) = .06, n.s.. Similarly, no significance was found for interactions between age
and question probe type: F(2, 62) = .60, n.s.. However, when all three components were
combined, a promising, although non-significant, trend emerged: F (4, 60) = 1.90, p = .12. The
interactions were graphed into two plots, Figure 1 and Figure 2.
Figure 1 represents the “yes” response to the Verbatim probe with a Target word actually
broadcast during the listening phase (“It’s a word I heard”) and reflects true memory.
Specifically, it shows the difference in mean group response to the verbatim-style question probe
when subjects were faced with target words of different emotional valence. As can be seen in the
figure, both age groups recalled hearing positively-valenced words the least and negativelyvalenced words the most. Older adults showed the highest recall accuracy on negativelyvalenced words, but for positively-valenced words, older and younger adults demonstrated
similar levels of memory, with older adults showing slightly higher levels of recall of positive
words than younger adults.
Figure 2 represents the response to the gist-style question probe, “Not a word I heard, but
it’s related to one of the lists,” which for target words is actually reverse coded. Because the
target word was heard, a higher “yes”-response value signifies more false memories. As can be
seen in the figure, older adults demonstrated more false memories for positive words than for
negative words. Compared to young adults, older adults had higher levels of false memory for
positive words, thinking that they heard more positive words than they actually did. Younger
adults had the highest levels of false memory for negative words.
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Signal Detection Analysis of Responses When Related Words Were the Prompts
ANOVAS were also run on the d’-values for Related words—words not heard during the
listening phase but related in content(Root words; Critical Distractors)—and age interactions
were again examined in a 2 by 3 by 3 ANOVA incorporating age, valence, and type of question
probes.
Again, valence and age interactions yielded no significant effects, F (2, 62) = 0.68, n.s.
Similarly, no significant interactions were found between age and question probe type: F (2, 62)
= 0.98, n.s.. However, when all three components were combined, a highly-significant
interaction emerged, F (4, 60) = 4.83, p < .005. The interactions for this ANOVA are shown in
Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3 shows the difference in mean group response when participants faced with
critical distractor words of difference emotional valence and given with the verbatim-style
question probe, “It’s a word I heard.” Specifically, it shows a measurement of false memory.
Higher d’-values indicate that participants thought they heard a word that was never presented to.
As can be seen in the figure, older adults had more false memories than younger adults for both
positive and negative words, but fewer false memories for neutral words.
Figure 4 shows the difference in mean group response when participants were faced with
Critical Distractor words of different emotional valence paired with the gist-style question probe,
“Not a word I heard, but it’s related to one of the lists.” That is, it represents a measure of true
memory: a higher “yes”-response rate is indicative of better memory for the words presented in
the listening section. Older adults demonstrate slightly higher levels of true memory than
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younger adults for positive words, and much higher levels of true memory for neutral words. For
negative words, younger adults had more true memories than older adults.
Discussion
This study examined the impact of emotional stimuli on both the semantic false memory
and true memory of older and younger adults, and found a significant interaction between age,
probe type, and emotional valence when participants were tested for their memory of critical
distractors (Related words), and a non-significant, but interesting trend in the age, probe, valence
interaction with Target words. More simply, relative to young adults, the graphed data showed
that the older adult cohort demonstrated greater false memory for positive stimuli, as
hypothesized, but both age groups demonstrated similar levels of true memory, which was
unexpected. Based on the results of this study, there were no clear trends in the levels of true or
false memory in relation to age and negative stimuli, and more work should be done in the future
to assess the lack of trend observed here.
Since both SST and FTT rely on gist memory, it is important to look at how responses to
gist probes differ between age groups. Figures 2 and 4 incorporated gist probes, with Target and
Related words respectively, and the patterns of the positivity effect and negativity bias can be
easily observed. As mentioned, the positivity effect is a selective attention to positive versus
negative stimuli in older adults, while the negativity bias is selective attention to negative stimuli
versus positive stimuli in younger adults. Both of these emotional processing phenomenon are
evident in response to gist probes regardless of word type.
The results of this study support the hypothesis that older adults should be expected to
have higher levels of false memory for positive stimuli than younger adults, based on the
predictions of both FTT and SST. FTT predicted that older adults would use more gist
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processing than younger adults, and that emotional content leads to higher levels of gist
processing, too, and gist processing, in general, would lead to higher levels of false memory.
SST posited that older adults would focus more on positive information than negative
information, and together with FTT, would lead to older adults having positively-valenced gist
memories, and thus higher levels of false memory than younger adults.
These results also reveal dark side-effects of older adults focusing disproportionately on
the positive side of the emotion spectrum, because while the positivity effect has been found to
improve true memory in older adults, it also seems to simultaneously increase the level of false
memories generated. More work will need to be done in the future to explore ways that the
positivity effect can assist older adults to improve true memories while keep false memory levels
to a minimum.
The finding that, for Target words, there was not an Age x Valence interaction is in line
with the findings of Fernandes et al. (2008), Grühn et al. (2005), and Kensinger et al. (2002),
who all failed to find evidence of such an interaction when examining only verbatim memory.
This study improved on earlier designs by introducing the DRM to test older adults for
not only true memory but also for false memory levels, and tapped into the important distinction
between verbatim memory and gist memory, while using ANEW words to control for arousal.
Previous literature on emotional memory and true memory with older adults used less complex
memory tests that were susceptible to confounded results due to the confirmation bias found in
older participants, and failed to control for arousal when examining differences in emotional
valence (e.g., Fernandes ,2008; Piguet, 2008).
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It is important to note, however, that this research project is relatively exploratory in
nature; both fuzzy-trace theory and socioemotional selectivity theory literatures recognize that
the effects can be subtle, paradoxical, or easily influenced by a variety of factors. Results
concerning both the positivity effect and the negativity bias have been questioned (e.g., Murphy
& Isaacowitz, 2008; Peters et al., 2007), as well as the use of verbal stimuli (Grühn, Smith, and
Baltes, 2005). This area of research examines complex and sensitive processes that are still not
fully understood; this study, however, adds to the current knowledge by examining false as well
as true memory in older adults, as compared to younger adults, and in looking at differences in
false memory rates when participants face emotional stimuli having different valences but
consistent arousal levels.
There are several major strengths to this study, including the experimental design and
various controlled factors. The use of the DRM makes it easily comparable to other work in the
field done with Fuzzy-Trace Theory (Brainerd & Reyna, 2001), and the use of ANEW words
controlled for arousal while differing only in valence, which enabled the results to measure only
that specific use of emotional content. The randomization of words, emotional stimuli, and probe
types within the various test booklets prevented participants from copying off their neighbor and
allowed for more reliable and statistically randomized results. Using the same word lists and
target words as Brainerd et al.’s work (2008) allowed for a check of young adult responses in this
trial against those of previous trials, and the well-matched participant groups made it easier to
compare the validity of the results with those of previous studies.
However, there are several limitations to this study, including some aspects of the
experimental design and the nature of the stimuli. One such issue concerns the interpretation of
valence in this experiment, since the emotional valence of a Target is the same as that of the root
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word associated with it. In some cases, the related word might not conjure the root word as
strongly as the root word conjures the related word (such an example is the word WEAVER,
which is conjured by the root word DREAM. DREAM is a positive word, thus so is WEAVER,
but WEAVER means very little on its own to participants and does not conjure the word
DREAM as strongly.). Another potentially confounding factor occurs when the related word has
multiple meanings (such as BASS, which could be a fish or an instrument); these sorts of words
might elicit different responses in different participants, causing them to respond in ways that
were not predicted.
Future directions for this line of investigation include neuro-imaging studies, a third
participant group, and possibly developing a visual version of the DRM exam. Neuro-imaging
studies of false memory pose an intriguing next step. Data from previous imaging work makes it
possible to predict where in the brain these sorts of valence and memory activities would occur.
The amygdala would be the first area of interest, but only emotional arousal has really been
found to affect the area (Adolphs et al., 2005), since this study worked to control for arousal and
focus only on valence differences activity might not be shown here. It would be expected that
valence would translate into activation in other brain regions (Kensinger, 2004). Imaging work
has been done with the DRM, and these projects implicated activation of the medial temporal
region when showing false memory to critical distracters, while correct rejections of a Target
word with a gist probe were associated with increased activation in the prefrontal regions
(Schacter & Slotnick, 2004). Schacter & Slotnick (2004) found that patients with prefrontal
damage were unable to correctly reject distractor stimuli. Their findings were supported by a
study run by Dennis et al. (2007), who found that patients with medial temporal damage
demonstrated lower false alarm rates. Neurological investigations might also show whether the
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frontoparietal area is more active when a participant is faced with a positively-valenced critical
distractor such as a false alarm, which would create a phantom recollection and lead to more
activity in the forebrain (Kim & Cabeza, 2007). These studies suggest that the neural traces of
valence information appear to be both storage- and retrieval-based, and thus neuro-imaging
experiments would help to determine if the paths for false recollection of related words work in a
parallel manner to those for target words.
While this study attempts to measure changes in emotional memory across the lifespan, it
only included a young adult cohort and an older adult cohort. In order to fully examine the
changes in emotional memory as persons normally develop, a third, middle-aged group aged 4055 years should be included in future tests. That would allow for tracking trends in memory
throughout all ages of adulthood.
Additionally, the DRM is a very useful paradigm, but as the work of Grühn et al. (2005)
suggest, perhaps the positivity effect might not impact memory for verbal material in words as
much as a visual would (the word SMILE might not elicit as strong an emotional response as
would an image of a person with a smile), and so in order to see if these results can be recreated
with stronger interactions, it might be beneficial to create a visual version of the DRM to test
memory for emotional stimuli. A visual version should also be useful for helping participants to
grasp the root emotion of the stimuli more quickly, because reading a word requires more steps
in the brain than seeing a picture does. Reading words requires both letter and word recognition,
semantic interpretation, and then the encoding of that material. On the other hand, looking at a
photo eliminates a few of those steps, leaving only semantic interpretation and then encoding.
AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
21
Overall, this work and similar research can have important implications for society in
these changing times. As living to older and older ages becomes more common, and the number
of older adults in the world expands, the decisions and behavior of that group will have a
growing influence on society. An understanding of normal brain aging and of how older people
interpret the world should help medical professionals and others to relate to older adults in ways
that help them to best encode and recall information.
AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
22
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AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
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Figure 1. Measuring True Memory: Age Differences in response to Target words by Valence for
a Verbatim Probe.
Figure 2. Measuring False Memory: Age Differences in response to Target words by Valence for
a Gist Probe.
AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
Figure 3. Measuring False Memory: Age Differences in response to Related words by Valence
for a Verbatim Probe.
Figure 4. Measuring True Memory: Age Differences in response to Related words by Valence
for a Gist Probe.
30
AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
Appendix
Schematic Diagram of Test Words
Root Words taken
from ANEW list &
controlled for
arousal
• 5 Positive
• 5 Neutral
• 5 Negative
Words on recording
150 Total
(15 sublists of 10 words)
TARGET Words
Tested as
RELATED Words
Pen & Paper Exam
Unrelated Distractor
Words
117 Questions
31
AGING AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY
32
Appendix
MEMORY TEST INSTRUCTIONS & EAMPLE
Imagine that one of the lists that you heard was QUEEN, ENGLAND, CROWN, PRINCE, GEORGE, DICTATOR.
If you saw the words KING, THRONE, and PALACE in the booklet, you would say that all of the words are new
but that they are all related in meaning to this short list.
Other words on the exam will be unlike anything heard on any of the short lists. For example, suppose that the only
list that you heard was the royal words in the preceding paragraph. If you saw the words COMPUTER, PINE, and
SODIUM on the exam, you would say that all of the words are new and they are not related in meaning to the short
list. They are brand new in every respect.
In the upcoming exam, you will have to respond to each word by deciding whether the statement that
follows it is true. Each word is followed by one of three statements:
It’s a word I heard on one of the lists.
YES
NO
Not a word I heard, but it’s related to one of the lists.
YES
NO
It’s either a word I heard or a word that’s related to one of the lists.
YES
NO
For example, suppose that the only list that you heard was the short list of royal words, above. The table of
test words might look like the one you see below. Read through the table and be sure you understand why each
answer that has been underlined on the far right is the correct one:
KING
It’s a word I heard on one of the lists.
YES
PALACE
Not a word I heard, but it’s related to one of the lists.
YES
NO
CROWN
It’s either a word I heard or a word that’s related to one of the lists.
YES
NO
SODIUM
Not a word I heard, but it’s related to one of the lists.
YES
NO
ENGLAND
It’s a word I heard on one of the lists.
NO
YES NO
COMPUTER It’s either a word I heard or a word that’s related to one of the lists.
YES NO
THRONE
It’s either a word I heard or a word that’s related to one of the lists.
YES NO
DICTATOR
Not a word I heard, but it’s related to one of the lists.
YES NO
PINE
It’s a word I heard on one of the lists.
YES NO
The answer is no to the first question because KING was not on the royal list, the answer is yes to the
second question because PALACE is related to the royal list, the answer is yes to the third question because
CROWN was on the list, the answer is no to the fourth question because SODIUM is not related to the royal list, the
answer is yes to the fifth question because ENGLAND was on the list, the answer is no to the sixth question
because COMPUTER was not on the list and is not related to the royal list, the answer is yes to the seventh question
because THRONE is related to the royal list, the answer is no to the eighth question because DICTATOR was on the
list, and the answer is no to the ninth question because PINE was not on the list.
Answer each question by circling either YES or NO.