The proposed research is an extension of work in which elderly persons were enabled to achieve memory performance at parity with that of younger college students. This work employed a large indoor """"""""environment,"""""""" constructed with regard to principles of ecological validity. The memory deficits observed in the elderly's performance on a control task showed considerable memorial deficits in comparison with younger subjects. This demonstrated that the memory deficits commonly observed in elderly populations are to a great extent task dependent, as least with regard to certain memory processes, and that the elderly can in fact remember as well as younger people within appropriate task paradigms. The proposed research will employ experimental procedures that vary task and subject characteristics in order to determine the transactive effects thereof. The focus will be on the elucidation the salient characteristics of tasks that enhance memory in the elderly, and the research will be used to develop a clinically-useful mnemonic system by which elderly individuals and others suffering memory deficits will be able to ameliorate or perhaps eliminate the social and functional effects of those deficits.
| Gollin, E S; Stahl, G; Morgan, E (1989) On the uses of the concept of normality in developmental biology and psychology. Adv Child Dev Behav 21:49-71 |
| Sharps, M J; Gollin, E S (1988) Aging and free recall for objects located in space. J Gerontol 43:P8-11 |
| Gollin, E S; Sharps, M J (1988) Facilitation of free recall by categorical blocking depends on stimulus type. Mem Cognit 16:539-44 |
| Sharps, M J; Gollin, E S (1987) Memory for object locations in young and elderly adults. J Gerontol 42:336-41 |
| Sharps, M J; Gollin, E S (1987) Speed and accuracy of mental image rotation in young and elderly adults. J Gerontol 42:342-4 |
