OLDER ADULTS' MEMORY FOR WRITTEN MEDICAL INFORMATION

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The goal is to determine if older adults' memory for written medical information can be improved through the use of specially designed texts. Acknowledging that comprehension of written materials involves an interaction between the text and the reader, variables related to both the structure of the text as well as the prior knowledge of the reader will be considered. Previous research suggests that the following attributes of the structure of prose materials have significant effects on adults' memory for that prose: locating main ideas at the top levels of the content structure; adequate signaling of logical relationships; placement of details in a manner which does not distract older readers from the main ideas; optimal use of top-level structure. In addition, the reader's prior knowledge or "schema" for the topic of a passage has been shown to affect the accuracy as well as amount of information remembered. The research will be conducted in two interdependent strands: one on prose organization and one on prior knowledge. The prose organization strand will be directed toward answering the following questions: 1. Can older adults' memory for written medical information be increased through the manipulation of text variables? and 2. Which discourse type is most effective for communicating this information? The Meyer prose analysis system will be used to assess the organization of current medical information and to measure recall by older adults of medical information presented in different forms. The prior knowledge strand of the research will address the following research questions: 1. What prior knowledge or explanatory model do older adults have about the medical conditions being studied? and 2. How does this model influence how new information about the condition is acquired? This research is expected to show that texts which meet the criteria mentioned above and which are structured as a comparison of medical and common lay beliefs will be most fully and accurately recalled by older adults.