Kensinger Elizabeth A, Krendl Anne C, Corkin Suzanne
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Exp Aging Res. 2006 Jan-Mar;32(1):23-45. doi: 10.1080/01902140500325031.
The present study compared the memory of young and older adults for details pertaining to two public events of close temporal proximity but varying emotional import-the Columbia shuttle explosion and the 2003 Super Bowl. Participants responded to surveys sent within 2 weeks of these events and then again 7 months later, providing information about event-related details (i.e., of the events themselves) and personal details (i.e., of the reception event). Both age groups rated the shuttle tragedy as significantly more emotional than the Super Bowl, and although older adults often had poorer memory overall, both age groups remembered more about the shuttle than they did about the Super Bowl. Further, the age discrepancy (young adults remembering more than older adults) was less pronounced for the shuttle than for the Super Bowl. Thus, older adults' memories appear to benefit from the emotional salience of real-life events.
本研究比较了年轻人和老年人对两个时间上相近但情感意义不同的公共事件——哥伦比亚号航天飞机爆炸和2003年超级碗的细节记忆。参与者在这些事件发生后两周内以及7个月后分别回复了调查问卷，提供了与事件相关的细节（即事件本身的细节）和个人细节（即接收事件的细节）。两个年龄组都认为航天飞机悲剧比超级碗更具情感冲击力，尽管老年人总体记忆通常较差，但两个年龄组对航天飞机的记忆都比对超级碗的记忆更多。此外，年龄差异（年轻人比老年人记忆更多）在航天飞机事件上比在超级碗事件上不那么明显。因此，老年人的记忆似乎受益于现实生活事件的情感显著性。
