Interference and facilitation in spatial working memory: Age-associated differences in lure effects in the n-back paradigm.

Schmiedek, Florian; Li, Shu; Lindenberger, Ulman · 2009 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1037/a0014685

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This study investigates the mechanisms underlying age-related declines in spatial working memory (WM), specifically focusing on how older adults process "lure" items in an n-back task. Lures are nontarget stimuli that match items presented earlier in a sequence but not at the critical target lag, thereby inducing interference. The authors hypothesized that age differences in WM performance might reflect changes in the reliance on familiarity signals versus controlled retrieval processes. To test this, the researchers analyzed performance data from younger and older adults using two versions of a spatial 2-back task: a standard version requiring direct position matching and a more complex version requiring mental shifting of positions. The study utilized data from the Intra-Person Dynamics Study, involving 18 younger adults (mean age 25.5 years) and 18 older adults (mean age 74.2 years). Participants completed daily assessments over 45 days, performing four trials of each task version per session. This extensive longitudinal design allowed for the post-hoc classification of items as targets, pure nontargets, or lures with unambiguous lag statuses ranging from 1 to 9 steps back. Reaction times (RTs) and accuracy were analyzed, with RTs detrended to account for practice effects. The analysis focused on intrusion costs (performance differences between lures and nontargets) and facilitation effects (performance differences between targets and nontargets). Results indicated that older adults exhibited significantly stronger interference effects from lures compared to younger adults, particularly for lags of 3 and 4 in the regular condition and lags of 1 and 3 in the shifting condition. This interference manifested as lower accuracy and prolonged reaction times. Conversely, older adults showed a distinct facilitation effect for target items, responding significantly faster to targets than to pure nontargets, a pattern not observed in younger adults. These effects were present for both perceived positions and mentally shifted positions, suggesting the interference arises from bindings of temporal and spatial information rather than mere perceptual overlap. The interference effects decayed rapidly, with no significant lure effects detected for lags greater than four. The findings suggest that normal aging is associated with an increased reliance on familiarity signals during working memory tasks. Older adults appear to depend more heavily on automatic familiarity cues, which facilitate rapid recognition of targets but cause significant interference when lures trigger false familiarity. This pattern challenges explanations based solely on general slowing or inhibitory deficits, as it involves both speed increases (facilitation) and decreases (interference). The results align with theories proposing that aging involves a shift toward familiarity-based processing due to declines in hippocampal recollection or deficient dopaminergic neuromodulation, leading to less distinctive item representations and greater susceptibility to lure-induced interference.

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• cognitive aging