摘要：Older adults are more vulnerable than young adults to false memory effects in long-term memory, measured by the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). This task consists in studying lists of words (e.g., table, sit, legs, etc.) semantically associated with a non-studied critical lure (e.g., chair). Increased false recognition of lures in older relative to young adults suggests an over-reliance on semantic memory with aging (Tun et al., 1998). Recently, Macé and Caza (in press) have observed DRM false memory effects in immediate serial recognition (ISR) or matching span involving young adults. Importantly, with DRM lists, true recognition of matching lists can be based on either semantic or phonological information (or both). However, since articulatory suppression primarily affects phonological - relative to semantic - information, it may be used during ISR to determine whether the participant relies more heavily on phonological or semantic information. The goals of the current study were to 1) demonstrate, for the first time, false ISR in older adults and 2) extend the view that older adults over-rely on semantic information during ISR. We hypothesized that 1) both young and older adults would show false ISR effects and 2) true recognition would be less impaired by suppression in older than in young adults, since the former rely on semantic information to a greater extent than the latter.
