Influences of Age and Divided Attention

on Memory 

Discussion

This research studied the effects of age and divided attention (DA) on memory. It had full

attention (FA), divided attention at encoding (DAE), and divided attention at retrieval (FAR)

conditions and two groups of younger and older adults. The hypotheses were 1) memory

 performance is highest in FA condition, lower in DAR condition, and lowest in DAE condition,

2) younger adults have better total memory performance, and 3) younger adults have better

memory performance in FA, DAE, and DAR conditions. The first hypothesis was partially

supported. Results showed that memory performance was better in FA than in DAE and DAR,

 but there was no difference between DAE and DAR. The first part of hypothesis is the same as

 pervious findings that memory performance decreases when attention is divided. Previous

findings show that memory is better in FA than DAE and DAR conditions (Anderson, et al.,

1998; Craik, et al., 1996). The second part of first hypothesis was not supported because no

difference between DAE and DAR was found. This is not the same as previous findings, because

they found that memory performance is better in DAR condition than in DAE (Craik, et al.,

1996).

The second hypothesis was supported because results showed younger adults had better

overall memory performance than older adults. This is the same as pervious findings because

 

their findings also show that older adults have lower memory performance in total (Anderson, et

al., 1998). The third hypothesis was not supported because results showed younger and older

adults had same performance on FA, DAE, and DAR conditions which is also different from

 previous findings. Previous findings show that younger adults have better memory performance

in all FA, DAE, and DAR conditions than older adults (Anderson, et al., 1998).

Findings about the first hypothesis can be explained by attentional resources theory.

According to this theory, there is a limited amount of attention that can be used for different

tasks. This may be because the attention was not divided enough. The tapping task was a simple

task and participants could focus on memory task. This is one of the study limitations and future

studies should try to use better secondary tasks. So when memory task and tapping task are done

at the same time there will be less attention for both of them which means memory performance

decreases. This is why memory performance is higher in FA than in DAE and DAR conditions

(Craik, et al., 1996). But according to Shiffrin and Schneider’s (1977) encoding is a controlled

 process and needs a lot of attention but retrieval is an automatic process and needs less attention,

so when there is less attention available, encoding will decrease more than retrieval. It means

memory performance should be better is DAR than DAE condition, which is different from the

results of this study. Second hypothesis can be explained by reduced attentional theory, that says

when people get older they will have attention, so their memory performance decreases. This is

why younger adults perform better than older adults. But according to this theory younger adults

will have better performance in all FA, DAE, and DAR conditions which is different from the

results of this study (Anderson, et al., 1998).

Different findings of this study can be explained by the limitations of the study. The first

limitation is that tapping task was easy and maybe did not divide attention well. So when the

 

attention is not divided well, the difference between performance in DAE and DAR conditions

will be less. Future studies can use better tasks, like reaction time tasks, to divide attention. The

second limitation is that the study had a low sample size (N = 28). This simple size is not enough

for finding all difference in ANOVA and power sizes will be reduced, which may be the reason

for finding no difference between younger and older adults in FA, DAE, and DAR conditions.

Future studies can use bigger sample sizes that is enough for finding differences.

The first implication of the study is that divided attention decreases memory performance

which means for having a better memory performance attention should not be divided. This

shows having full attention during studying or listening in classes or encoding important

information is very important. The second implication of the study is that older adults have lower

memory because they have lower attention, so if they try to have difference mental activities that

improves attention, they will have less memory problems. As conclusion, this study replicated

 previous studies and used a Turkish and Cypriot sample. The results of the study supported some

of previous findings and helped make sure they are correct in different countries and cultures.