Aging and lineup performance at long retention intervals: Effects of metamemory and context reinstatement

Young (18-30 years) and older (62-79 years) adults (N = 96) engaged in a 20 -min live interaction with the future target in a lineup task. One month la ter, participants were interviewed about the events in the prior encounter (with or without context reinstatement), and then they saw a target-present (TP) or target-absent (TA) lineup. The lineup was followed by the Benton F ace Recognition Test (A. Benton, A. Sivan, K. Hamsher, N. Varney, & O. Spre en, 1994), which correlated positively with accuracy in TP, especially for young adults. False identification in TA was associated with (a) higher sco res on a memory self-efficacy scale and (b) higher recall of information ab out the initial event, although only for seniors. Results suggested that ag e-related increases in false identification generalize to ecologically vali d conditions and that seniors' performance on lineups is negatively related to verbal recall as well as to self-reports of satisfactory experiences wi th memory in life.