Frequency and recognition judgement by young and elderly adults.

The aim of this study was to compare the performance of young and elderly subjects at two different memory tasks (frequency judgement and word recognition) under two retrieval conditions (forced and unforced choice) in order to determine the source of any incidental age-related memory deficit. Fifty young subjects (aged from 15 to 35 yr) and 50 elderly subjects (aged from 60 to 85) participated in this study. The results showed a significant difference between age groups at word recognition independent of retrieval condition, while frequency judgement was found significantly impaired in elderly as compared with young subjects only when an unforced choice procedure was required. It is suggested that age related memory impairment is not dependent on the nature of the task, but rather to the amount of retrieval information which is given to the subjects.