EFFECTS OF PICTORIAL MNEMONIC STRATEGY USAGE ON PROSE RECALL OF YOUNG, MIDDLE-AGED, AND OLDER ADULTS

Young, middle-aged, and older adults were assigned to either a keyword illustration, keyword imagery, or a no-strategy control condition to learn concrete information about fictitious cities presented in short prose passages. The keyword illustration strategy facilitated recall p erformance in all three age groups, although the older adults' keyword illustration vs. control comparison reached significance only when ve rbal ability was used as a covariate. Usage of the keyword illustratio n strategy also enhanced the young, middle-aged, and older adults' per formance with respect to accurately grouping together (clustering) a c ity's features, regardless of whether the features were associated wit h the correct city name. Usage of the keyword imagery strategy enhance d recall clustering in only the young and middle-aged groups. Implicat ions of the findings and possibilities for future research are discuss ed.