Schmitt F A, Murphy M D, Sanders R E
J Gerontol. 1981 May;36(3):329-37. doi: 10.1093/geronj/36.3.329.
Three groups of older adults (mean age 72.1 years) were compared on a free recall task with categorizable lists. The nine females and two males in each group were instructed to rehearse overtly while studying. A group instructed to rehearse by category showed higher levels of free recall and category organization than either a control group instructed only to remember or a group instructed to rehearse actively at study. Strategy instructed subjects' rehearsal was organized serially early in a list and then categorically organized for the remainder of a list. Activity instructed subjects showed a high number of same-item repetitions but adopted no clear pattern of strategic category rehearsal. Control subjects' rehearsal was essentially inactive and nonstrategic, mainly consisting of single mentions of each list item and an associate. These data show that older adults' memory performance is modifiable and that efficient performance is obtained when instructional training is aimed at the processes that are crucial to task performance. Direct strategy measures, such as those used as here, yield important information about the processes underlying age differences in memory and can aid greatly in the design of training aimed at exploring older adult potential.
对三组老年人（平均年龄72.1岁）进行了一项针对可分类列表的自由回忆任务的比较。每组中的九名女性和两名男性在学习时被要求进行公开复述。与仅被要求记忆的对照组或在学习时被要求积极复述的组相比，被要求按类别复述的组在自由回忆和类别组织方面表现出更高的水平。接受策略指导的受试者的复述在列表开头按顺序进行组织，然后在列表的其余部分按类别进行组织。接受活动指导的受试者有大量相同项目的重复，但没有采用明确的策略性类别复述模式。对照组受试者的复述基本上是不活跃且无策略的，主要包括对每个列表项目及其关联项的单次提及。这些数据表明，老年人的记忆表现是可改变的，并且当教学训练针对对任务表现至关重要的过程时，可以获得高效的表现。直接的策略测量，如这里所使用的那些，能产生关于记忆中年龄差异背后过程的重要信息，并且在旨在挖掘老年人潜力的训练设计中能提供极大帮助。
