Age and Intelligence Differences in Coding and Retrieval of Word Lists

Word lists of several orders of approximation to English were presented for immediate free recall to young and old adult subjects. The total recall scores were broken down into ‘number of chunks recalled’ and ‘number of words per chunk’. The ‘chunks recalled’ measure is taken here to reflect retrieval efficiency: scores were lower in older subjects but were unaffected by Mill Hill Vocabulary level. The ‘words per chunk’ score is interpreted as a measure of coding efficiency: age had no effect on this measure, but scores were poorer for subjects of lower vocabulary level. The conclusion drawn from a previous study that there is an age decrement in coding efficiency was thus not supported by this analysis. It was concluded, rather, that the main effect of age is on retrieval, while coding is affected by verbal intelligence.