Was that part of the story or did I just think so? : age differences, mild cognitive impairment, and intraindividual variability in inferences and story recognition
Date
2008-04-10T05:58:47Z
Authors
Bielak, Allison Anne Marie
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Abstract
The present study expanded the story recognition and inference literature by investigating age differences within the older age range, differences as a result of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and extending the focus of the investigation into the consistency of responding. 304 older adults completed a story recognition task across five different occasions. Old-old (00) adults and those with more severe MCI showed poorer ability to accurately recognize inferences, and less sensitivity to discriminate between statement types. Intraindividual variability was positively correlated with increasing age and cognitive impairment, and interactions revealed the greatest inconsistency involved the false, rather than inferred statements. The findings support our proposal that participants used two different recognition strategies, and their episodic memory ability defined the efficiency and frequency of use of the strategies. 00 and MCI adults may be less able to recognize that something plausible and consistent with an event may not have actually occurred.