Recall of organizable words and objects in adulthood: influences of instructions, retention interval, and retrieval cues.

Young (mean age = 27.3 years), young-old (mean age = 66.3 years), old (mean age = 74.8 years), and old-old adults (mean age = 84.0 years) learned organizable words and objects with standard instructions or organizational instructions. Immediate and delayed free recall and delayed cued recall were assessed. Results indicated equal cue benefits for all age groups for words, although cue benefits increased with increasing age for objects. Instructions to organize the items enhanced memory only for the old-old adults. Young adults forgot fewer items from immediate to delayed free recall than the older age groups. In addition, organizational instructions affected word recall, but not object recall, for all age groups. Although these data indicate both similarities and differences in patterns of performance among age groups, the overall pattern of outcome suggests an age-related increase in the level of cognitive support required to optimize episodic remembering.