INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE AND CONTEXTUAL VARIABLES INFLUENCE SPATIAL MEMORY IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS

This study examined the influence of individual difference and context ual variables on the magnitude of age differences in memory for spatia l location. Younger adults and 2 samples of older adults that differed in educational attainment, verbal intelligence, and working memory ab ility were compared. Ss studied and later recreated an arrangement of small objects that were placed on a plain map or a visually distinctiv e model. The objects were either unrelated or categorically related it ems. The results indicated that distinctive context enhanced spatial m emory, and the magnitude of the benefit was generally comparable acros s age groups and stimulus sets. Hierarchical regression analyses confi rmed that working memory resources accounted for a sizable proportion of age-related variance in memory for spatial location. The implicatio ns of these results for current views on age-related differences in me mory for spatial location are discussed.