Abstract :
[en] Memory for details declines with typical ageing, whereas gist memory is preserved. Yet, the exact nature of the gist memory representations that are preserved in older adults is not fully understood. Most studies have investigated memory for conceptual gists or general, superordinate, features. In contrast, older adults’ memory for visuospatial, structural gists has received little attention. In the current study we designed a new forced-choice recognition memory task that enables to assess short-term memory for structural gists and scene details while overcoming prior limitations such as the confounding between structural and conceptual gists and unbalanced task difficulty. The paradigm is composed of a gist memory task (GMT) and a detail memory task (DMT). In two pilot studies conducted online in young participants (N=120 overall), we (1) selected the image pairs most suited for our tasks, and (2) validated the task procedure by showing that shortening encoding time impacted performance in the DMT more than in the GMT, supporting that detailed and gist representations are involved in these conditions, respectively. In the main, pre-registered experiment, we investigated age-related differences in short-term memory for structural gists and scene details (N=50 younger and N=50 older participants). As predicted, performance in the DMT, but not in the GMT, was lower in older adults compared to younger adults, while task difficulty was balanced between the tasks. Overall, our results support that the preservation of gist memories in typical ageing extends to the basic layout of the scene in which an event took place.
