CONTEXT-SENSITIVITY AND ADULT AGE-DIFFERENCES IN ENCODING VARIABILITY

Adult age differences in encoding variability were examined in two exp eriments. Subjects generated properties to a series of target words on two occasions, and contextual similarity between the occasions was ma nipulated by presenting target words either in same or different sente nce frames. Experiment 1 showed that older adults' interpretations of word meanings were less consistent than those of younger adults when t he target words were encoded in different semantic contexts. Age diffe rences in encoding variability were, however, eliminated when contextu al changes were reduced. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern of resul ts and revealed that the observed age differences in consistency of pr ocessing were associated with age-related retrieval failures. Age diff erences in episodic remembering were discussed in terms of distinctive ness of encoding and contextual reinstatement.