In the literature, cognitive aging is particularly highlighted about decline of memory. For several years now, psychologists have been interested, no more by the quantity of recalls but by their quality. Researchers explore memory mistakes that are called false memories. When an individual remembers an event that did not exist or remembers it quite differently from the way it happened, this phenomenon is called “false memories”. Older adults create many more false memories than younger adults. The goal of this study is to examine the role of a social factor like age-based stereotype.
Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM, 1995) is one of the most famous paradigms used to study false memories. It consists in listening lists of words which are all strongly associated with critical words. For each list, the critical word, called a lure, is not presented during the task. For example, the list of words “slipper, boot, foot, walking, leather…” is highly tied to the lure “shoe”. if participants recall critical lures, there is a production of false memories. 50% of the participants create false memories with DRM paradigm (Rodieger & McDermott, 1995).
Several studies have reported that older adults typically underperform younger adults in DRM tests. What is the effect of age-based stereotype in creating false memories ? The aim of this research was to assess the role of age-based stereotypes in enhancing or reducing false memories using the DRM paradigm.
Older adults are considered as calm, kind but also physically and cognitively diminished. These beliefs are called negative age-based stereotypes. Stereotypes are defined as characteristics attributed to a group of personns and they are socially shared.
Stereotype threat was defined by Steele and Aronson (1995) when they discovered that African students underperformed when they were in mathematic exams with white American students (stereotype threat condition) but that they succeeded as well as white American students when the stereotype threat was erased.
In the same way, Age-based stereotype threat tends to decrease older adults’ cognitive performances. At the early stage of aging, individuals are notably impacted by age-based stereotype threat. Moreover, authors draw attention to the fact that pathological scores on cognitive tests used to screen predementia could be attributed to stereotype threat (Mazerolle et al., 2016).
The mechanisms of age-based stereotype threat are unknown until today. In the literature, 4 factors seem to be involved : The role of negative affective responses like stress or anxiety, the role of level of expectation about succeeding or not in the task, the role of motivational regulation-fit (Higgins, 1997) and the role of interferences in working memory (Schmader, Johns, Forbes, 2008). This fourth explanation concerning the interferences in working memory, can be the result of a mix of negative affective responses, a low level of expectation and an inappropriate motivational strategy.
Three previous studies (Smith, Gallo, Barber, & Maddox, 2017; Thomas & Dubois, 2011; Wong & Gallo, 2016) found opposite results with older adults in a DRM recognition task. Thomas et Dubois (2011), and also Smith et al. (2017) showed an increase of false memories when older adults were induced under stereotype threat, whereas Wong et Gallo (2016) found a decrease of false memories.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between natural perception of stereotype threat without explicit induction and the level of false memories in early stage of aging. Also, the present study was designed to extend moderators as the level of education, anxiety…
82 young-old participants (60 to 70 years old), took part to the study. A DRM paradigm with free recall lists was used and perception of stereotype threat was measured instead of being induced as in the previous studies.
Correlation analysis did not reveal the presence of a link between perception of stereotype threat and false memories. However, an effect of the level of education was highlighted when the perception of stereotype threat was specifically due to the situation and not to a general perception.
This study shows that individual factors, as the level of education, can increase the effect of natural perception of age-based stereotype threat on false memories. The level of expectation related to the task or an inappropriate motivational regulation-fit (Higgins, 1997) could explain the influence of the situational stereotype threat on false memories on young-old highly educated adults.
Implications for future research as well as for the conditions of neuropathological diagnostics are discussed.
Key words: False memories, Age-based stereotypes, Perception, young-old adults, Level of education
Words I have learned :
Stereotype threat : menace de stereotype
A lure : un leurre
To induce : induire
To assess : évaluer
To highlight : souligner, mettre en avant
Author: Michèle Taridec
Bibiography:
Mazerolle, M., Régner, I., Barber, S. J., Paccalin, M., Miazola, A. C., Huguet, P., Rigalleau, F. (2016). Negative aging stereotype impair performance on brief cognitive tests used to screen predementia. Journals of gerontology: Psychological sciences, 0, 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1013/geronb/gbw083
Roediger III, H. L., & Mcdermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 803-814. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.803
Schmader, T., Johns, M., Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 336–356. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037%2F0033-295X.115.2.336
Smith, A. M., Gallo, D. A., Barber, S. J., Maddox, K. B., Thomas, A. K. (2017). Sereotypes, warnings, and identity-related variables influence older adults’ susceptibility to associative false memory errors. Gerontologist, 57, 206-215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx057
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.47
Thomas, A. K., & Dubois, S. J. (2011). Reducing the burden of stereotype threat eliminates age differences in memory distortion. Psychological Science, 22, 1515-1517. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611425932