Individual difference and contextual variables influence spatial memory in younger and older adults.

Cherry, Katie E., Park, Denise C.·1993·Psychology and Aging
DOI 10.1037//0882-7974.8.4.517

Abstract

This study examined the influence of individual difference and contextual variables on the magnitude of age differences in memory for spatial location. Younger adults and 2 samples of older adults that differed in educational attainment, verbal intelligence, and working memory ability were compared. Ss studied and later recreated an arrangement of small objects that were placed on a plain map or a visually distinctive model. The objects were either unrelated or categorically related items. The results indicated that distinctive context enhanced spatial memory, and the magnitude of the benefit was generally comparable across age groups and stimulus sets. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that working memory resources accounted for a sizable proportion of age-related variance in memory for spatial location. The implications of these results for current views on age-related differences in memory for spatial location are discussed.

Cited by (9)

  1. Working Memory and Intelligence: The Same or Different Constructs?
    Ackerman, Phillip L., Beier, Margaret E., Boyle, Mary O. · 2005 · Psychological Bulletin
  2. Aging and verbal memory span: a meta-analysis
    Bopp, K. L., Verhaeghen, P. · 2005 · The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
  3. A meta-analysis on the relation between reading and working memory
    Peng, Peng, Barnes, Marcia, Wang, CuiCui, Wang, Wei, Li, Shan, Swanson, H. Lee, Dardick, William, Tao, Sha · 2018 · Psychological Bulletin
  4. Aging white matter and cognition: Differential effects of regional variations in diffusion properties on memory, executive functions, and speed
    Kennedy, Kristen M., Raz, Naftali · 2009 · Neuropsychologia
  5. Neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive aging: Evidence from structural magnetic resonance imaging.
    Raz, Naftali, Gunning-Dixon, Faith M., Head, Denise, Dupuis, James H., Acker, James D. · 1998 · Neuropsychology

See all 178

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Individual difference and contextual variables influence spatial memory in younger and older adults. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0882-7974.8.4.517
The paper
Cherry, K. E., & Park, D. C. (1993). Individual difference and contextual variables influence spatial memory in younger and older adults. Psychology and Aging. https://doi.org/10.1037//0882-7974.8.4.517

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.