Department of Psychological Science, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy.
Gerontology. 2013;59(4):349-54. doi: 10.1159/000346357. Epub 2013 Jan 30.
Numerous behavioural studies have shown that older adults have more difficulty in binding things together and have underlined the corresponding importance of this function in everyday memory tasks.
This study was designed to test a new brief inter-dependent self-knowledge intervention on memory functions in aging.
Before engaging in a working memory task based on binding objects and their locations, half of the participants read a series of paragraphs that focused on the individual self and were written in the first person singular 'I' (in-dependent self-knowledge), whereas the other half read paragraphs that focused on the relational self and were written in the first person plural 'We' (inter-dependent self-knowledge).
Results showed that older adults who were trained with 'We' passages were more successful in remembering objects and their location compared to the group of participants who were trained with 'I' passages.
These findings are discussed in terms of the role that social factors may have in favouring memory functions in aging and delineate a new cognitive clinical protocol based on an inter-dependent self-knowledge approach.
大量行为研究表明，老年人在将事物联系起来方面存在更大的困难，并强调了这种功能在日常记忆任务中的对应重要性。
本研究旨在测试一种新的简短的相互依存的自我知识干预对衰老中记忆功能的影响。
在进行基于绑定对象及其位置的工作记忆任务之前，一半的参与者阅读了一系列专注于个体自我并以第一人称单数“I”（独立自我知识）书写的段落，而另一半参与者阅读了专注于关系自我并以第一人称复数“We”（相互依存自我知识）书写的段落。
结果表明，与接受“I”段落训练的参与者相比，接受“We”段落训练的老年人在记忆物体及其位置方面更为成功。
这些发现从社会因素可能有利于衰老中的记忆功能的角度进行了讨论，并制定了一种基于相互依存的自我知识方法的新认知临床方案。
