Repetition improves older and younger adult memory for automated appointment messages

Automated telephone messaging systems have dramatically expanded communicat ion about health service appointments, but few studies have directly invest igated these messages. The present study investigated whether message repet ition (1, 2, or 3 presentations) and listener age (mean age = 71 or 19 year s) improved memory for automated appointment messages. Repetition improved older and younger adult memory for appointment information. Moreover, 2 pre sentations reduced age differences in accuracy of answering questions about the messages. This was not the case for free recall, suggesting that older adults differentially benefited from repetition only when provided with ad ditional retrieval support. These findings show that older as well as young er adults benefit from at least 1 repetition of appointment messages. Actua l or potential applications of this research include the use of repetition to improve comprehension of automated telephone messages.