The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 5; p. e95792
• Main Authors: Yang, Lixia, Lau, Karen P L, Truong, Linda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02.05.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Advantages; Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Aging - physiology; Arousal; Biology and Life Sciences; Coding; Female; Grasslands; Humans; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Memory; Memory - physiology; Mental Recall - physiology; Middle Aged; Older people; People and Places; Psychology; Reaction Time - physiology; Social Sciences; Studies; Survival; Survival - physiology; Young Adult; Young adults; New York; Canada
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095792

The survival effect in memory refers to the memory enhancement for materials encoded in reference to a survival scenario compared to those encoded in reference to a control scenario or with other encoding strategies. The current study examined whether this effect is well maintained in old age by testing young (ages 18-29) and older adults (ages 65-87) on the survival effect in memory for words encoded in ancestral and/or non-ancestral modern survival scenarios relative to a non-survival control scenario. A pilot study was conducted to select the best matched comparison scenarios based on potential confounding variables, such as valence and arousal. Experiment 1 assessed the survival effect with a well-matched negative control scenario in both young and older adults. The results showed an age-equivalent survival effect across an ancestral and a non-ancestral modern survival scenario. Experiment 2 replicated the survival effect in both age groups with a positive control scenario. Taken together, the data suggest a robust survival effect that is well preserved in old age across ancestral and non-ancestral survival scenarios.