Rates of forgetting on three measures of verbal learning using retention intervals ranging from 20 min to 62 days

Abstract

Previous research has examined age effects in rates of forgetting at short delay intervals of 20–30 min. The present study examined age effects in three verbal memory tasks at longer delay intervals of up to 62 days. Study participants consisted of 371 community-dwelling men and women comprising three age groups 20–39, 40–59, and 60–79 years. Age differences in acquisition and 20-min delayed recall were found on each of the memory tasks (paragraph, word list, and word pairs). However, all age groups showed equivalent rates of forgetting after this short delay interval. When participants were required to retain information for longer delay intervals (i.e., 1–62 days), increasing age was associated with faster rates of forgetting for day 1, but not over longer delay intervals. Age differences in rates of forgetting for longer delay intervals and the facilitating effects of prompted recall are discussed in terms of encoding and storage versus retrieval processes. (JINS, 2001, 7, 79–91.)