Zacks R T
J Gerontol. 1982 Mar;37(2):203-11. doi: 10.1093/geronj/37.2.203.
College students and older adults (mean ages 20.4 and 71.5 years) performed in a "keeping track" task that required them to recall, in response to probe questions, the most recently presented of each of a fixed set of categories. Questions alternated with presentations of new sets of items. Response accuracy, reaction times, and verbal reports provided information on the participants' strategies. The findings were consistent with the view (e.g., Hasher & Zacks, 1979) that older adults' poorer memory results from reduced use of effortful strategies. The older persons used fewer active encoding strategies than the college students and were less accurate and slower to respond. A subgroup of the elderly adults reported some active encoding activities; they performed more like the college students than the remaining elderly participants. A follow-up study in which college students were allowed reduced opportunity for active encoding produced performance intermediate between the other two groups.
大学生和老年人（平均年龄分别为20.4岁和71.5岁）参与了一项“追踪”任务，该任务要求他们根据探测性问题回忆固定类别组中每个类别最近呈现的内容。问题与新一组项目的呈现交替进行。反应准确性、反应时间和口头报告提供了有关参与者策略的信息。研究结果与以下观点一致（例如，哈舍和扎克斯，1979年），即老年人较差的记忆力是由于较少使用费力的策略所致。老年人使用的主动编码策略比大学生少，反应准确性较低且速度较慢。一部分老年参与者报告了一些主动编码活动；他们的表现更像大学生，而不像其他老年参与者。一项后续研究允许大学生减少主动编码的机会，其表现介于另外两组之间。
