The importance of age-related differences in prospective memory: Evidence from diffusion model analyses

Ball, B. Hunter; Aschenbrenner, Andrew J. · 2017 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/s13423-017-1318-4

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Summary

This study investigates the cognitive mechanisms underlying age-related declines in event-based prospective memory (PM), specifically focusing on how emphasizing the importance of a PM intention affects cue detection in young and older adults. While previous research established that PM performance declines with age, the specific attentional processes driving these deficits remain unclear. Traditional analyses of mean reaction times and accuracy cannot distinguish between competing theoretical accounts, such as capacity sharing (diverting resources from the ongoing task) or delay theory (strategically increasing response thresholds). To resolve this, the authors utilized diffusion model analysis, a cognitive process modeling technique, to decompose decision-making into distinct parameters: drift rate (processing efficiency), boundary separation (response caution), nondecision time (peripheral processes like target-checking), and starting point (response bias). The experiment involved 140 participants (70 young adults and 70 older adults) performing a lexical decision task embedded with a nonfocal PM intention to detect words containing the syllable “tor.” Participants were randomly assigned to either a PM Importance (PMI) condition, where detecting cues was prioritized, or an Ongoing Task Importance (OTI) condition, where the lexical decision was prioritized. Standard analyses revealed that PMI instructions increased cue detection selectively for older adults, eliminating the typical age gap in PM performance, though this benefit came at the cost of slower ongoing task performance. Crucially, these standard metrics did not differentiate the underlying mechanisms between age groups. Diffusion model analyses provided a more granular explanation. The best-fitting model indicated that PM demands primarily affected boundary separation and nondecision time, rather than drift rate. Specifically, PMI instructions increased boundary separation (response caution) for both age groups. However, the selective improvement in cue detection for older adults in the PMI condition was driven by increases in nondecision time, interpreted as enhanced peripheral target-checking processes. In contrast, young adults did not show significant changes in nondecision time between conditions. Drift rates remained stable across conditions, suggesting that the quality of evidence accumulation was not the primary factor differentiating the groups. These findings challenge the assumption that age-related PM deficits are solely due to reduced processing efficiency or general executive decline. Instead, the results suggest that older adults can compensate for age-related slowing by strategically engaging in more thorough target-checking when the importance of the PM intention is highlighted. The study demonstrates the utility of diffusion modeling in disentangling complex cognitive processes, revealing that age-related differences in PM are not uniform but depend on specific strategic adjustments in response caution and peripheral monitoring. This implies that interventions emphasizing the importance of intentions may effectively mitigate PM failures in older adults by leveraging their capacity for strategic target-checking.

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• prospective memory interruptions