Age differences in memory for names and occupations associated with faces: the effects of assigned and self-perceived social importance.

Abstract

It has been documented that older adults' memory deficits can be reduced for information depicted as personally and socially important (e.g., Hargis & Castel, 2017 [Younger and older adults' associative memory for social information: The role of information importance. Psychology and Aging, 32(4), 325-330]). The current study aimed to further assess the effects of both arbitrarily assigned and self-perceived importance in younger and older adults' memory for names (low in schematic support) and occupations (high in schematic support) associated with faces. Participants studied the same 16 face-name-occupation triplets (with neutral facial expressions) across four blocks, each including a free recall of names and occupations. At the end, they completed a cued recall of names and occupations. The faces were arbitrarily cued as socially important (i.e., with an orange frame) or unimportant (e.g., without a frame). The perceived social importance was assessed by rating all the triplets based on a 10-point Likert Scale (1 = least and 10 = most important) at the end. The results showed that age-related memory deficits were reduced or even eliminated for occupations (high in schematic support) relative to names (low in schematic support), especially in the free recall of faces self-perceived as important. In other words, the combination of schematic support and self-perceived importance can effectively mitigate older adults' memory deficit.