TY - JOUR A1 - Aslan, Alp A1 - Schlichting, Andreas A1 - John, Thomas A1 - Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T. T1 - The Two Faces of Selective Memory Retrieval: Earlier Decline of the Beneficial Than the Detrimental Effect With Older Age JF - Psychology and Aging N2 - Recent work with young adults has shown that, depending on study context access, selective memory retrieval can both impair and improve recall of other memories (Bäuml & Samenieh, 2010). Here, we investigated the 2 opposing effects of selective retrieval in older age. In Experiment 1, we examined 64 younger (20–35 years) and 64 older participants (above 60 years), and manipulated study context access using list-method directed forgetting. Whereas both age groups showed a detrimental effect of selective retrieval on to-be-remembered items, only younger but not older adults showed a beneficial effect on to-be-forgotten items. In Experiment 2, we examined 112 participants from a relatively wide age range (40–85 years), and manipulated study context access by varying the retention interval between study and test. Overall, a detrimental effect of selective retrieval arose when the retention interval was relatively short, but a beneficial effect when the retention interval was prolonged. Critically, the size of the beneficial but not the detrimental effect of retrieval decreased with age and this age-related decline was mediated by individuals’ working memory capacity, as measured by the complex operation span task. Together, the results suggest an age-related dissociation in retrieval dynamics, indicating an earlier decline of the beneficial than the detrimental effect of selective retrieval with older age. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) KW - cognitive aging KW - episodic memory KW - retrieval, context reactivation KW - inhibition Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039874 VL - 30 IS - 4 SP - 824 EP - 834 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlichting, Andreas A1 - Aslan, Alp A1 - Holterman, Christoph A1 - Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T. T1 - Working memory capacity predicts the beneficial effect of selective memory retrieval JF - Memory N2 - Selective retrieval of some studied items can both impair and improve recall of the other items. This study examined the role of working memory capacity (WMC) for the two effects of memory retrieval. Participants studied an item list consisting of predefined target and nontarget items. After study of the list, half of the participants performed an imagination task supposed to induce a change in mental context, whereas the other half performed a counting task which does not induce such context change. Following presentation of a second list, memory for the original list's target items was tested, either with or without preceding retrieval of the list's nontarget items. Consistent with previous work, preceding nontarget retrieval impaired target recall in the absence of the context change, but improved target recall in its presence. In particular, there was a positive relationship between WMC and the beneficial, but not the detrimental effect of memory retrieval. On the basis of the view that the beneficial effect of memory retrieval reflects context-reactivation processes, the results indicate that individuals with higher WMC are better able to capitalise on retrieval-induced context reactivation than individuals with lower WMC. KW - Blocking KW - Context reactivation KW - Inhibition KW - Retrieval KW - Working memory capacity Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2014.927506 VL - 23 IS - 5 SP - 786 EP - 794 ER -