In their experiment, Geraci and Miller (2013) aim to determine the impact of successful completion of a prior task on the episodic memory of older subjects. Specifically, they postulate that successful completion of a cognitive task prior to the target task could increase seniors’ confidence in their abilities and help them achieve the target task.
To verify this, Geraci and Miller set up a two-stage experiment. Young and older participants first performed a cognitive task under one of three conditions. In the “success” condition, participants were given a time to complete the task successfully, while in the “fail” condition, the time allocated to complete the task was too short to allow them to complete it successfully. The third condition is the “control” condition, in which participants were not required to complete a task. Next, participants were required to complete a memory task, i.e., learning a 30-word list followed by a free reminder with unlimited time.
This experience highlighted a positive effect of successful completion of a previous task among older participants. Indeed, older participants performed significantly better at the target task, i.e. they were able to recall more words previously studied, compared to older participants in the “control” condition and those in the “failure” condition of the prior task. In addition, older participants in the “success” condition reported significantly less anxiety than older participants in the “fail” and “control” conditions.
The authors suggest that decreasing anxiety in older adults may be a factor in improving their performance on memory tasks. In addition, the authors suggest (although this variable was not measured in their study) that success on a prior task may have countered the effects of the perception of stereotype treat (which is characterized by a negative impact of stereotype knowledge on performance) associated with aging. Indeed, a decrease in the anxiety that may be associated with completing a memory task may be responsible for an increase in older participants’ performance on the next task. Finally, it is important to note that younger participants did not benefit from the beneficial effect of completing a prior task.
Subsequently, the authors Geraci, Hughes, Miller, and De Forest (2016) investigated which types of previously presented tasks improved older people’s memory performance. The results showed that performance on memory tasks is improved when the prior task is a cognitive task and not when the prior task is a motor task (throwing bean bags at targets).
Vocabulary :
- Partook : a participé à
- To arise : surgir
Geraci, L., & Miller, T. M. (2013). Improving older adults’ memory performance using prior task success. Psychology and Aging, 28(2), 340–345. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030332
Zoé Spriet