AGE-DIFFERENCES IN RETRIEVAL - FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE RESOURCE-REDUCTION HYPOTHESIS

Age differences in processing resources seem salient to age-related de clines in secondary (or ''recent'') memory. Community-dwelling adults (N = 90, ages 30-80) completed 4 memory tests: Wechsler Memory Scale-R evised (WMS-R) Logical Memory (LM), Cowboy Story (CS), WMS-R Visual Re productions (VR), and Extended Complex Figure Test (ECFT; Fastenau, in press). Two space-capacity measures (WMS-R Digit Span and Visual Memo ry Span) and 4 processing speed measures (cancellation and mental-trac king tasks) assessed processing resources. A statistical control proce dure was used to isolate retrieval efficiency and measure contribution s of age and processing resources to retrieval. A negative relationshi p between age and retrieval efficiency emerged on all measures (p < .0 5). The age effect was reduced 60% on LM and CS when processing resour ces were controlled, eliminated for VR, and unchanged on ECFT. It is p ossible that visual-spatial retrieval requires fewer processing resour ces than does verbal retrieval.