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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Advance Access published online on November 9, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbp081
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Prior Experience Supports New Learning of Relations in Aging

Melanie L. Ostreicher1, Sandra N. Moses1,2,3, R. Shayna Rosenbaum1,4 and Jennifer D. Ryan1,5,6

1 Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2 Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3 Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
4 Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
5 Department of Psychology
6 Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Address correspondence to Jennifer D. Ryan, PhD, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1. Email: jryan{at}rotman-baycrest.on.ca


  Abstract

This work examined whether semantically relevant schemas could facilitate learning in the transverse patterning (TP) task, which requires participants to learn the value of each stimulus in relation to the stimulus with which it is paired (e.g., A wins over B, B wins over C, C wins over A). Younger and older adults received the standard TP in isolation (alone condition), with additional sessions (practice condition), or with 2 TP sessions, which used familiar stimuli with known relations (e.g., rock–paper–scissors, semantic condition). Accuracy improved when training was provided within the context of a previously known relational framework, beyond the benefits obtained with extended practice with the task. When levels of education and vocabulary scores were considered as covariates, age-related deficits in accuracy were observed in the alone and practice conditions but were eliminated in the semantic condition. Extended practice and appealing to prior knowledge improved explicit awareness for the stimulus contingencies for each age-group. Thus, age-related deficits in learning relations among items may be remediated using existing relational information within semantic memory as an analog for new learning.

Key Words: Aging • Cognition • Memory • Relational binding

Received December 16, 2008; Accepted September 8, 2009

Decision Editor: Dr. Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow.


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