Older and young adults practiced a verbal/spatial dual task and were tested
for retention performance 1 month later. Participants first practiced each
component task separately to individually determine component processing t
ime. Thus, age-related differences in single-task detection sensitivity wer
e minimized prior to performing the dual task. Participants practiced the d
ual task for two 1.5-hour sessions. Following the retention interval, they
were retested on the single-task components and on the dual task. Correct d
etection as well as signal detection parameters were examined. Older adults
demonstrated decreased sensitivity as well as a more conservative response
bias during acquisition. Retention performance for the single tasks replic
ated previous retention studies, demonstrating age-related performance decl
ines when stimulus-specific learning is assessed. Dual-task retention capab
ility declined for both older and young adults equally when detection accur
acy, but not perceptual sensitivity, was measured. Response bias changed di
fferentially for older and young adults across the retention interval.