AUTOMATIC AND ATTENTIONAL MEMORY MECHANISMS IN THE AGED

众所周知，记忆功能会随着 然而，为什么会出现这种情况还不完全清楚。建议数 研究旨在调查一些潜在的记忆机制，这些机制 可能是造成这种与年龄相关的缺陷的原因。具体地说， 记忆中自动扩散激活的理论机制 网络与从记忆中提取信息的注意能力 将是本研究的重点。第一系列实验将 解决与年龄有关的各种传播特点的差异 存储网络中的激活(例如，积累、衰减、深度)。 这将通过语义启动任务来完成，在该任务中，主要项目 (例如，猫)之后是目标物品(例如，狗)，并且 测量发音目标项的等待时间。语义学 素数和目标之间的关系是多种多样的，响应延迟 被用作存储网络中的激活索引。第二季 的实验将解决与年龄有关的聚焦的差异 注意特定的记忆区域。这将再次在#年完成。 操纵注意方向的语义启动任务 通过改变受试者对记忆区域的期望值 对于取回来说是必要的。在第三系列实验中，与年龄相关的 将讨论从记忆中检索信息的不同 通过实例化情景记忆网络 做实验。受试者将被要求学习一系列相关句子 到一个主题。与一个主题相关的句子的数量，整合 背诵的句子，以及句子在什么情况下被 学识会是多种多样的。识别所记忆的句子的时间将是 被用作从情节记忆网络中检索的量度。

It is well known that memory functioning suffers some deterioration with age, yet it is not entirely clear why this is the case. The proposed research is designed to investigate some underlying memory mechanisms which may be responsible for this age-related deficit. Specifically, the theoretical mechanisms of automatic spreading activation in the memory network, and attentional capacity in retrieving information from memory will be the focus of this research. The first series of experiments will address age-related differences in various characteristics of spreading activation (e.g., rate of buildup, decay, depth) in the memory network. This will be accomplished via a semantic priming task in which a prime item (e.g., cat) is presented followed by a target item (e.g., dog) and the latency to pronounce the target item is measured. The semantic relationship between the prime and target is varied, and response latency is used as an index of activation in the memory network. The second series of experiments will address age-related differences in the focusing of attention to specific areas of memory. This again will be accomplished in a semantic priming task in which the direction of attention is manipulated by varying the subjects' expectancies about which area of memory will be necessary for retrieval. In the third series of experiments, age-related differences in the retrieval of information from memory will be addressed by instantiating an episodic memory network in the context of the experiment. Subjects will be required to learn a list of sentences related to a topic. The number of sentences related to a topic, the integration of the memorized sentences, and the conditions under which the sentences are learned will be varied. The time to recognize the memorized sentences will be used as a measure of retrieval from an episodic memory network.