Souchay Céline, Isingrini Michel
University of Plymouth, UK.
Brain Cogn. 2004 Oct;56(1):89-99. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2004.06.002.
To examine whether aging affects metacognitive control, elderly and young adults carried out a readiness-recall task, in which subjects monitor their own learning procedure, allowing strategy manipulation (study time and rehearsal) to be measured. Age differences were observed in metamemory control performance. Younger adults were found to be better at adjusting study time and rehearsal to the task. Moreover, to determine whether age-related differences in strategy manipulation may mediate age-related differences in memory performance, performance on the readiness-recall task was compared to performance on an experimenter-paced task. Results indicated that younger adults recalled significantly more words in the readiness-recall task than in the experimenter test. This was not the case for older adults. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that age-related differences in strategy manipulation mediate some age-related differences in memory performance. Our aim was also to determine whether metacognitive control is related to executive functions. Thus, all participants were administered standard neuropsychological tests used to assess executive functioning. Significant partial correlation appeared between metamemory control and executive functioning. Finally, a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that age-related decline in metamemory control may be largely the result of executive limitations associated with aging.
为了研究衰老是否会影响元认知控制，老年人和年轻人进行了一项准备回忆任务，在该任务中，受试者监测自己的学习过程，从而能够测量策略操作（学习时间和复述）。在元记忆控制表现方面观察到了年龄差异。结果发现，年轻人在根据任务调整学习时间和复述方面表现得更好。此外，为了确定策略操作方面与年龄相关的差异是否可能介导记忆表现方面与年龄相关的差异，将准备回忆任务的表现与实验者设定节奏的任务的表现进行了比较。结果表明，在准备回忆任务中，年轻人回忆的单词明显比在实验者测试中更多。老年人则并非如此。此外，分层回归分析显示，策略操作方面与年龄相关的差异介导了记忆表现方面一些与年龄相关的差异。我们的目的还在于确定元认知控制是否与执行功能相关。因此，对所有参与者进行了用于评估执行功能的标准神经心理学测试。元记忆控制与执行功能之间出现了显著的部分相关性。最后，分层回归分析表明，元记忆控制方面与年龄相关的下降可能主要是与衰老相关的执行功能限制的结果。
