Systematically reducing schematic information during encoding differentially impacts true and false memory at retrieval in younger and older adults.

Schemas are abstract representations that aid memory performance by providing a structured context through which memories can be both encoded and retrieved. Older adults have been shown to particularly benefit from schema support as a memory aid. Yet, while helpful to true memory for schematic information, reliance on schemas has also been shown to lead to high rates of false memories for novel yet schematically related information, as well as diminished memory for information that falls outside of an active schema. The current research sought to examine how systematically manipulating naturalistic contextualization as well as the density of schematic information present during encoding may alter subsequent true and false memory for both schematic and nonschematic information. To examine this, we systematically altered the ratio of schematic-to-nonschematic information present during encoding across four conditions in a sample of healthy younger and older adults. Overall, both younger and older adults responded more accurately to schematic compared to nonschematic targets, replicating past work highlighting the benefit of schemas to memory performance. Results also showed that systematically reducing the amount of schematic information present at encoding improved memory discriminability. Specifically, as there was less schematic information present at encoding, false alarms to schematic lures decreased, and hits to nonschematic targets increased. Additionally, when items were decontextualized from a naturalistic scene, false alarms to nonschematic lures decreased. Hits to schematic targets were equitable across conditions. Taken together, the results demonstrate that while schemas maintain a strong influence on memory performance across the lifespan, this effect can be manipulated with reduced schematic information. Such findings reveal the extent to which the pervasive influence of schemas on memory can be swayed by manipulating the amount of schematic information present during encoding and provide critical knowledge for the optimal usage of schemas as a memory support across the lifespan. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).