ADULT AGE-DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTUALLY BASED, BUT NOT CONCEPTUALLY BASED IMPLICIT TESTS OF MEMORY

Implicit tests of memory assess the influence of recent experience wit hout requiring awareness of remembering. Evidence concerning age diffe rences on implicit tests of memory suggests small age differences in f avor of younger adults. However, the majority of research examining th is issue has relied upon perceptually based implicit tests. Recently, a second type of implicit test, one that relies upon conceptually base d processes, has been identified. The pattern of age differences on th is second type of implicit test is less clear. In the present study, w e examined the pattern of age differences on one conceptually based (f act completion) and one perceptually based (stem completion) implicit test of memory, as well as two explicit tests of memory (fact and word recall). Tasks were administered to 403 adults from three age groups (19-34 years, 58-73 years, 74-89 years). Significant age differences i n favor of the young were found on stem completion but not fact comple tion. Age differences were present for both word and fact recall. Corr elational analyses examining the relationship of memory performance to other cognitive variables indicated that the implicit tests were supp orted by different components than the explicit tests, as well a being different from each other.