The role of demographic and life style variables in utilizing cognitive support for episodic remembering among very old adults.

This research investigated the influence of individual difference variables within demographic and life-style domains on episodic recall tasks in which the level of cognitive support increased incrementally. The community-based sample consisted of 253 healthy older adults taken from the Kungsholmen parish in Stockholm, Sweden. Utilizing hierarchical regression procedures, two questions were addressed with regard to the selected individual difference variables: (a) the degree to which they could predict episodic recall and (b) whether they differentially influenced the magnitude of performance gains from the provision of cognitive support in the form of study time, item organizability, and retrieval cues. The results showed that age was negatively related to performance, whereas education and participation in social activities exerted a positive influence on performance. Exercise was also positively related to performance, but only in the least supported tasks. With regard to utilization of cognitive support, education was positively related to performance benefits from more study time and item organizability, age was negatively related to the effect of item organizability, and social activity was positively associated with the ability to benefit from retrieval cues. These results highlight the role of individual difference measures in episodic memory functioning in late adulthood and indicate that these variables are important in predicting the extent to which older adults are able to utilize cognitive support to enhance episodic recall.