STUDIES OF DIRECTED FORGETTING IN OLDER ADULTS

Younger and older adults were compared in 4 directed forgetting experi ments. These varied in the use of categorized versus unrelated word li sts and in the use of item by item versus blocked remember-forget cuei ng procedures. Consistent with L. Hasher and R. T. Zacks's (1988) hypo thesis of impaired inhibitory mechanisms in older adults, a variety of findings indicated that this age group is less able than younger adul ts to suppress the processing and retrieval of items designated as to be forgotten (TBF). Specifically, in comparison with younger adults, o lder adults produced more TBF word intrusions on an immediate recall t est (Experiments 1A and 1B), took longer to reject TBF items (relative to a neutral baseline) on an immediate recognition test (Experiment 3 ), and recalled (Experiments 1A, 1B, and 2) and recognized (Experiment s 1B and 2) relatively more TBF items on delayed retention tests in wh ich all studied items were designated as targets.