Age, imagery, and practice in paired-associate learning

Elder and college-aged subjects performed a series of paired-associate tasks designed to investigate age differences in the use of mnemonic imagery as a strategy in verbal learning. Subjects were tested on three occasions at two-week intervals. Two ten-pair lists of concrete-noun paired associates were learned at each session. Standard (no-imagery), self-generated, and experimenter-provided imagery instructions were used. Results indicated that imagery instructions are quite beneficial for elders in the short run. However, elders tended not to use the strategy effectively after a two-week interval unless reminded to do so. Results also indicated that elders were capable of generating useful learning strategies on their own when given sufficient experience with the task.