Examining Age Differences in the Influence of Schematic Information on Retrieval Success

Download or read book Examining Age Differences in the Influence of Schematic Information on Retrieval Success written by Christina Webb and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Schemas act as memory mechanisms that allow one to build frameworks in order tosupport memory through the use of gist information. This gist information can be especiallybeneficial to older adults in supporting successful memory. The current study sought to usenaturalistic scenes in order to investigate age-related changes in the neural basis of true memoriesfor information that was inherently tied to the scene's schema compared to that which was notrelated to the schema. During encoding, participants viewed schematic scenes (e.g., Christmas,bathroom, camping) and were tested on their memory for the content of the scene, includingtargets that were related (e.g., toilet) and unrelated (e.g., vase) to its theme. Analyses focused onboth similarities and differences in neural recruitment supporting memory for items related andunrelated to the schema. Correct responses to both schematically-related items and to items thatwere not related to the schema (non-schematic) were associated with increases in neural activityin the typical retrieval success network in younger adults, but a very limited network in olderadults. A direct comparison between retrieval of schematic vs. non-schematic items found greateractivity in bilateral visual and occipito-temporal regions, including the medial temporal lobe,indicating automatic recapitulation of items in the scene along with their surrounding schematiccontexts. Additionally, results revealed greater activation in prefrontal and parietal regionsassociated with decision-making, evaluation and attention, when comparing non-schematicretrieval with schematic retrieval. Older adults showed evidence of a reliance on the schemawhen comparing schematic and non-schematic retrieval, with greater activation in middle andsuperior temporal gyri. However, the reverse contrast revealed very limited activation, limitingthe age comparison analysis. Thus, the discussion focuses on interpretation of the younger adultresults, as well as additional functional connectivity analyses.