Working memory: Differences between young adults and the aged in listening tasks ^*

Memória operacional: diferenças entre adultos jovens e idosos em tarefas de escuta

Abstract

Working memory is a system with a limited capacity which enables the temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for complex cognitive tasks. Numerous studies have suggested that performance in these tasks is related to age where older adults have a lesser performance than the young.

Objective:

To analyze the processing functions of working memory in a listening task.

Method:

59 educated participants aged between 19 and 76 years having no memory complaints were divided into two groups (young and aged adults). The test administered was the adapted Listening Span, in which the subject listens to a sentence, judging whether it is true or false and, concomitantly, stores the last word of each sentence for later evocation.

Results:

In the judgment task, performance of both groups approached to a similar average. Results of sentence recall demonstrated that with the increase in number of sentences at each level, performance of both groups declined. In the blocks of sentences 1 and 2 at level 1, all participants performed similarly. In the block of sentences 3, at level 1, there was a difference between the young and the aged. From this level onward (retention of 3 to 5 items), the aged and the young differed significantly.

Conclusions:

An increase in the number of sentences diminished participants' performance of temporary storage in the recall tasks, while not interfering in the processing of sentences during judgment. The difference between the young and the aged became more accentuated as item retention demands increased.

Key words:
short-term memory; language; elderly; young.

Resumo

A memória de trabalho é um sistema de capacidade limitada que permite o armazenamento e a manipulação temporários da informação, necessários para realização de tarefas cognitivas complexas. Vários estudos sugerem que a idade interfere no desempenho em tarefas cujo processamento solicite memória operacional e que idosos têm desempenho inferior aos jovens.

Objetivo:

Analisar as funções de processamento e armazenamento temporário da memória de trabalho em tarefa de escuta.

Métodos:

59 sujeitos escolarizados sem queixa de alteração de memória com idades entre 19 e 76 anos divididos em dois grupos (adultos jovens e adultos idosos). O teste realizado foi adaptado do Listening Span, no qual o sujeito tem que ouvir uma sentença, realizar julgamento (verdadeiro/falso) e, concomitantemente, armazenar a última palavra de cada sentença para evocá-la posteriormente.

Resultados:

Na tarefa de julgamento o desempenho médio dos grupos foi similar. Os resultados da evocação de sentenças demonstram que com o aumento do número de sentenças em cada nível, o desempenho dos grupos também declinou. Nas sentenças dos blocos 1 e 2 do nível 1 os participantes comportaram-se semelhantemente. Nas sentenças do bloco 3, do nível 1, existiu diferença entre jovens e idosos. A partir deste nível (retenção de 3 a 5 itens), os idosos e os jovens diferiram significantemente.

Conclusão:

o aumento do número de sentenças diminuiu o desempenho dos participantes no armazenamento temporário em tarefas de evocação, mas não interferiu no processamento de sentenças durante o julgamento. A diferença entre jovens e idosos se acentuou conforme o aumento na demanda de retenção.

Palavras-chave:
memória de curto prazo; linguagem; idoso; jovem.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text available only in PDF format.

References

• ¹
  Baddeley A. Introduction and overview. In: Baddley A, editor. Working Memory, Thought, and Action. Oxford. Oxford University Press; 2007:1-13.
• ²
  Baddeley AD, Hitch GJ. Working memory. In: Bower GA. editor. Recent advances in learning and motivation. v. 8. New York: Academic Press; 1974:47-90.
• ³
  Baddeley A. Is Working memory still working? Eur Psychologist 2002;7:85-97.
• ⁴
  Baddeley A. The episodic buffer in working memory. Trends Cogn Sci 2000;4:417-423.
• ⁵
  Hasher L, Zacks R. Working memory, comprehension, and again: a review and a new view. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation 1988;22193-22223.
• ⁶
  Just MA, Carpenter PA. Capacity constrained comprehension. Psychol Rev 1992;99:122-149.
• ⁷
  Caplan D, Waters G. Issues regarding general and domain specific resources. Behav Brain Sci 1999;22:77-94.
• ⁸
  Wright HH, Shisler RJ. Working memory in aphasia. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 2005;14:107-118.
• ⁹
  Daneman M, Carpenter PA. Individual differences in working memory and reading. J Verb Learn Verb Behav 1980;19:450-466.
• ¹⁰
  Baddeley A. Working memory. Science 1992;255:556-564.
• ¹¹
  Swanson HL. What Develops in working memory? A Life Span Perspective. Dev Psychol 1999;35:986-1000.
• ¹²
  Munakata Y, Morton B, O´Reilly RC. Developmental and computacional approaches to variation in working memory. In: Conway AR, Jarrold C, Kane MJ, Miyake A, Towse JN, editors. Variation in working memory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2007:162-193.
• ¹³
  Hale S, Myerson J, Emery LJ, Lawrence BM, Dufault C. Variation in working memory across life span. In: Conway ARA, Jarrold C, Kane MJ, Miyake A, Towse JN, editors. Variation in working memory. New York , NY: Oxford University Press; 2007:194-224.
• ¹⁴
  Fisk JE,Warr P. Age and working memory: the role of perceptual speed, the central executive, and the phonological loop. Psychol Aging 1995;11:316-323.
• ¹⁵
  Hasher L, Lustig C e Zacks R. Inhibitory mechanisms and the control of attention. In: Conway ARA, Jarrold C, Kane MJ, Miyake A, Towse JN, editors. Variation in working memory. New York; NY: Oxford University Press; 2007:227-249.
• ¹⁶
  Reuter-Lorenz PA, Jonides J. The executive is central to working memory: insights from age, performance, and task variations. In: Conway ARA, Jarrold C, Kane MJ, Miyake A, Towse JN, editors. Variation in working memory. New York , NY: Oxford University Press; 2007:250-271.
• ¹⁷
  Stine EL, Wingfield A. Process and strategy in memory for speech among younger and older adults. Psychol Aging 1987; 2:272-279.
• ¹⁸
  Caspari I, Parkinson S, LaPointe L, Katz R. Working memory and aphasia. Brain Cogn 1998;37:205-223.
• ¹⁹
  Friedmann N, Gvion A. Sentence comprehension and working memory limitation in aphasia: a dissociation between semantic-syntactic and phonological reactivation. Brain Lang 2003;86:23-39.
• ²⁰
  Wright HH, Newhoff M, Downey R, Austermann S. Additional data on working memory in aphasia. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2003;9:302.
• ²¹
  Tompkins CA; Bloise CGR; Timko ML; Baumgaertner A. Working memory and inference revision in brain-damaged and normally aging adults. J Speech Hear Res 1994;37:896-912.
• ²²
  Brucki SMD. Sugestões para o uso do Mini-Exame do Estado Mental no Brasil. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2003;61:777-781.
• ²³
  Pfeffer RI, Kurosaki TT, Harrah CH, Chance JM, Filis S. Measurement of functional activities in older adults in the community. J Gerontol 1982;37:323-329.
• ²⁴
  Jorm AF. A short form of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): development and cross-validation. Psychol Med 1994;24:145-153.
• ²⁵
  McCullagh P, Nelder JA. Generalized Linear Models, 2nd. ed. Chapman and Hall: London; 1989.
• ²⁶
  Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias; 2004.
  » www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias
• ²⁷
  Haut MW, Chen S, Edwards S. Working memory, semantics, and normal aging. Aging, Neuropsychol Cogn 1999;6:179-186.
• ²⁸
  Shaw RM, Helmes E, Mitchell D. Age-related change in visual, spatial and verbal memory. Australasian J Age 2006;25:14-19.
• ²⁹
  Van der Linden M, Poncelet M. The role of working memory in language and comunication disorders. In: Stemmer B; Whitaker HA, editors. Handbook of Neurolinguistics. San Diego, London: Academic Press; 1998:289-300.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Apr-Jun 2007