Old Age, Inhibition, and the Part-Set Cuing Effect

Abstract This experiment tested the hypothesis that older adults have a general inhibitory deficit. The part-set cuing effect, which occurs when people recall fewer items from a set after being cued with some items of the set, was examined, as this effect is assumed to be caused by general inhibition. Both older and younger adults recalled state names and movie stars following either study of a cue list of 25 items or no such study. No part-set cuing effect was observed for either age group for very-well-remembered states, but younger adults showed the expected effect for movie stars. In support of an inhibitory deficit for older adults, they did not show any part-set cuing effect and actually bene ted from cues. Equal overall performance and equal recall of cued items indicates that these results are due to age differences in inhibition rather than a retrieval or cue processing deficit in older adults. The importance of this inhibition deficit for adult education is discussed.