Abstract
This chapter is primarily about people rather than about research findings. I chose a humanistic rather than a rigorous scientific approach to the memory functioning of older people for three reasons. The first is my reaction to two new scholarly books on human memory. Although both authors dealt adequately with representative samples of theoretical and research literature, neither paid the slightest attention to the individuals in whom the processes presumably occur; indeed, the authors conveyed the impression that efficiency of processing material from stimulus input with losses along the way to response output is more dependent on factors such as temporal sequencing and experimenter instructions than on the characteristics of the individuals through and presumably by whom the material is processed. Perhaps because of justified emphasis on scientific rigor, scientists may have inadvertently relegated the person, without whom there could be no memory, to secondary or even tertiary importance.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bahrick, H. P., Bahrick, P. O., & Wittlinger, R. P. Fifty years of memory for names and faces: A cross-sectional approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1975, 104, 54–75.
Birren, J. E. Age and decision strategies. In A. T. Welford & J. E. Birren (Eds.), Interdisciplinary topics in gerontology (Vol. 4). Basel: S. Karger, 1969.
Botwinick, J., & Storandt, M. Memory related functions, and age. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 1974.
Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. Automatic and effortful processes in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1979, 108, 356–388.
Hoyer, W. J., & Plude, D. J. Attentional and perceptual processes in the study of cognitive aging. In L. W. Poon (Ed.), Aging in the 1980’s: Psychological issues. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1980.
Hultsch, D. F. Adult age differences in retrieval: Trace dependent and cue dependent forgetting. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 77, 197–202.
Kahn, R. L., & Miller, N. E., Adaptational factors in memory function in the aged. Experimental Aging Research, 1978, 4, 273–289.
Kahn, R. L., Zarit, S. H., Hilbert, N. M., & Niederehe, M. A. Memory complaint and impairment in the aged: The effect of depression and altered brain function. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1975, 32, 1569–1573.
Lachman J. L., & Lachman, R. Age and the actualization of world knowledge. In L. W. Poon, J. L. Fozard, S. Cermak, D. Arenberg, & L. W. Thompson (Eds.), New directions in memory and aging: Proceedings of the George A. Talland Memorial Conference. Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1980.
Lowenthal, M. F., Berkman, P. L., Buehler, J. A., Pierce, R. C., Robinson, B. C., & Trier, M. L. Aging and mental disorder in San Francisco. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1967.
Poon, L. W. Fozard, J. I., & Treat, N. J.. From clinical and research findings on memory to intervention programs. Experimental Aging Research, 1978, 4, 235–253.
Rabbitt, P. M. An age decrement in the ability to ignore irrelevant information. Journal of Gerontology, 1965, 20, 233–238.
Rabbitt, P. M. Changes in problem solving ability in old age. In J. E. Birren & K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977.
Wright, L. L., & Elias J. W. Age differences in the effects of perceptual noise. Journal of Gerontology, 1979, 34, 704–708.
Zelinski, E. M., Gilewski, M. J., & Thompson, L. W. Do laboratory memory tests relate to everyday remembering and forgetting? In L. W. Poon, J. K. Fozard, L. S. Cermak, D. Arenberg, & L. W. Thompson (Eds.), New directions in memory and aging. Proceedings of the George A. Talland Memorial Conference. Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1980.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1982 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hulicka, I.M. (1982). Memory Functioning in Late Adulthood. In: Craik, F.I.M., Trehub, S. (eds) Aging and Cognitive Processes. Advances in the Study of Communication and Affect, vol 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4178-9_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4178-9_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-4180-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4178-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive