EFFECTS OF CONTEXT ON THE AGING MEMORY

该项目的广泛、长期目标是了解 解释不同年龄和年龄差异的潜在机制 老年人利用记忆环境中存在的上下文来 便于或减少目标信息的存储空间。在其他 话说回来，一个人的记忆环境中的某些元素是 有助于学习或检索信息；同时 内存环境中还有其他因素，如噪音或 相互竞争的活动，减损了记忆功能。在一定程度上 科学家们清楚地知道年轻人和老年人有多大 受环境的不同影响，信息可以被设计成 老年人会更容易记住。此外，这样的研究 将为人类如何在理论上提供更完整的理解 记忆功能随着年龄的增长而增强。 在本提案中，采用了工作记忆框架，该框架 表明老年人与年轻人在多大程度上是有效的 它们集成了支持目标记忆的上下文信息，并且 抑制损害目标内存的上下文信息。因此， 语境有效性的年龄差异在年龄较大时最大 成年人必须进行主动抑制或整合操作--两者都是 与工作记忆功能相关的过程。在现在 项目，开发任务以独立测量受试者的能力 整合和抑制语境，然后这些能力因素是 与假设涉及到的实验操作相关 语境的整合与抑制。不同的概念分类法 本文还从四个维度对语境效应进行了研究。 维度包括(A)记忆信息的关联程度 (目标)是背景；(B)背景是否是记忆的一部分 刺激(目标绑定或任务内)或不刺激(任务外或环境 上下文)；(C)上下文是支持还是削弱记忆；以及 (D)背景记忆测试的类型--直接或间接。大多数环境 关于老化的研究已经集中在任务内或目标绑定上下文上， 使用直接记忆测试。目前的研究主要集中在另一个方面 较少研究的语境领域，包括分散注意力的语境， 环境语境，以及语境对间接测量的影响 记忆。

The broad, long-term objectives of this project are to understand underlying mechanisms that account for differences in how young and elderly adults utilize context present in the memory environment to facilitate or detract from memory for target information. In other words, there are certain elements of one's memory environment which are useful in helping to learn or retrieve information; at the same time there are other forces in the memory environment, such as noise or competing activities, which detract from memory function. To the extent that scientists have a clear understanding of how young and old are differentially affected by context, information can be designed which will be easier for older adults to remember. In addition, such research will provide a more complete theoretical understanding of how human memory functions with advanced age. In the present proposal, a working memory framework is adopted which suggests that older adults differ from young adults in how effectively they integrate contextual information that supports target memory, and inhibit contextual information that detracts from target memory. Thus, age differences in the effectiveness of context are largest when older adults must perform active inhibition or integration operations--both processes associated with working memory function. In the present project, tasks are developed to independently measure subjects' ability to integrate and inhibit context, and then these ability factors are related to experimental -manipulations that are hypothesized to involve integration and inhibition of context. A conceptual taxonomy varying along four dimensions is also proposed for the study of context effects. The dimensions include (a) how strongly related the memory information (target) is to context; (b) whether the context is part of the memory stimulus (target-bound or intra-task) or not (extra-task or environmental context); (c) whether the context supports or detracts from memory; and (d) type of test for context memory--direct or indirect. Most context research on aging has focused on intra-task or target bound context, using direct memory tests. The present research focuses on the other less studied areas of context, including distracting context, environmental context, and effects of context on indirect measures of memory.