Dissociation and discrimination of age in implicit and explicit memory

Pages: 936-941
Laxmi Kataria (Department of Psychology, MDU, Rohtak, Haryana)

The current investigation sought to determine the dissociation and discrimination of age in implicit and explicit memory. Memory problems are a typical complaint among older adults. Older adults seem to have particular difficulty with source memory, with relatively fewer problems with recognition memory. Results revealed that there is the age difference in implicit and explicit memory. Explicit memory’s sub-tests like recent memory, remote memory, mental balance, attention and concentration, delayed recall, immediate recall, retention for similar pairs, retention for dissimilar pairs, visual retention and recognition all showed a significant age difference. After analyzing obtained scores, it was found that mature adult group (30-50 years) had better explicit and implicit memory than the older group with psychiatric problems and aged normal group above 60 years. However, overall in explicit memory aged normal person had better memory than aged person with a psychiatric problem but mature adult group (30-50 years) had better memory than both groups. Similarly, implicit memory of mature adult group (30-50 years) has better memory than both aged groups. However, there was no significant difference between aged persons with psychiatric problems and aged normal persons above 60 years in implicit memory.