Special Coverage

Core Mechanisms Underlying the Long-Term Stability of Working Memory Traces Still Work in Aging (43)

Gaen Plancher (University of Lyon), Gabriel Jarjat (University of Lyon & Grenoble Alpes University), Sophie Portrat (Grenoble Alpes University)

Summary by Taylor Curley, Digital Content Associate Editor

Worried About Your Memory? Consider Attentional Refreshing 

When attempting to hold on to complex information in mind, we store it in long-term memory or purposefully think about it so it's not lost. Actively thinking about to-be-remembered information – known as attentional refreshing – helps keep it active. Attentional refreshing is considered important for both working memory and long-term memory, particularly for information that is likely to be forgotten quickly. 

Previous studies have shown that attentional refreshing helps short- and long-term memory retention in young adults. But what about older adults? Can they also actively refresh information on the fly? Or is attentional refreshing impacted as we age? If so, then this provides a focal point to understanding general age-related memory declines.

Gaën Plancher and colleagues examined these questions using a complex span task in which young and older adults remembered words presented to them at either a fast (high cognitive load) or slow (low cognitive load) pace. The experimenters controlled attentional refreshing by varying the number of distractors (2 vs. 8) between each target item. Participants had to recall the words immediately or after a delay.

What did they find? As shown in the figures below, older adults recalled fewer words than young adults during immediate and delayed recall tests.

But participants in both age groups equally benefited from attentional refreshing under low and high cognitive load conditions. These findings provide more evidence of stability in cognitive process over the lifespan, and highlights the benefits of attentional refreshing in learners of all ages. A refreshing finding!