Describe the phenomenon or effect you are writing about and describe your question. Why is it essential to provide an answer to this question?
The topic is the unraveling of memory dynamics across the different Ages. The two characteristics of memory functioning are short-term memory, the functional one that holds temporary information, and long-term memory, which stores information for a long duration and changes with old age. To address this, I’ll target the critical question that guides this experiment: whether or not short-term memory activities result in better long-term recall and, most importantly, in elderly adults. Understanding this link can also help for several reasons. Firstly, the issue of cognitive impairment in the elderly is discussed, and cognitive health promotion in the older society is advanced by providing the scientific basis for intervention tools. Secondly, it finds ways of improving memory abilities alongside age; it can even extend other areas of functioning, say, learning and working environments. Next, addressing this issue in cognitive psychology fosters the development of theoretical models in which age-related change in memory is a central idea. This adds to our knowledge regarding the nature and modification of memory processes. We act clearly that investigating this relationship between short-term extraction and long-term memory in mature populations has some clinical correlates for cognitive health, practical implications, and theoretical concepts in psychology.
Describe and compare the approach and methods your two papers used to address your question.
Of the two papers reviewed, each one explores different measurement techniques to investigate the correlation between temporary (short-term) and permanent (long-term) memory in older adults. Nobre (2022) conducted two experiments using the mental imagination of places and spatial memories to measure the memory performances of different age groups. They conducted structured studies using a standard encoding and plotting of stimulus and task variables, ensuring analogousity at short-term and long-term memory intervals. However, Kausler & Wiley (1991) undertook experiments concerning movement or action as cognitive or retrieval of information stimuli with easy recall tasks (short-term) occurring before long-term (long-term) recollection exercises. They could use the moments and frequencies of the short-term training sessions to compare the memory performance of older and younger participants after recall sessions (Kausler & Wiley, 1991). On the contrary, another study by Nobre et al. emphasized spatial-contextual memory, while the work done by Kausler and Wiley pointed out the effects of the short-term retrieval of actions, thus exemplifying the varied techniques employed to tackle the broad topic of memory processing in older adults.
Describe the study samples, including age, geographic locations, and other relevant factors that are potentially relevant to note.
In studies by Nobre [2022], the samples varied and ranged from youth to older adults. The geographic areas considered in this study were Oxford, UK, and Frankfurt, Germany, both of which provinces are the sites of the research facilities. Age is essential to consider while examining memory processes because memory competence frequently diminishes with age. Multiple factors, such as cognitive status, education level, and existing medical conditions, shape the ability to store information. On the other hand, Kausler and Wiley (1991) used a similar open-ended interview approach to examine age-relevant differences in memory recall, showing that elderly individuals remember more visual, tangible, and significant events than young adults who tend to focus more on overarching trends. To trace the diversity of the Americans, our participants hailed from Columbia, MO, a university town in the Midwest of the USA. Additionally, some parameters of participants’ body, hardness and cognition, and socioeconomic state should be considered. At the same time, investigation of memory performance differences between the age groups is implied.
What types of tasks did the researchers use? Compare and contrast the methods of the two papers – how did they differ? Are there aspects of the methods the researchers should have considered when designing their studies?
In the study of Nobre(2022), people were asked to solve issues that led to contextual-spatial memories after a brief and long time. Such tasks implied the application of formation and fixation of spatial-contextual associations that were similar for both the acquisition and retrieval of information into STM and LTM. The study provided insights into the best practices used to investigate the relationship of STM with LTM from the young to older age groups. In opposition, Kausler and Wiley (1991) investigated the impacts of the temporary engagement of producers on the lasting recollection of actions in elderly adults. Utilizing this framework, individuals were instructed to perform random actions, which were later tested for immediate recollection after certain intervals. The critical difference between the two studies is the memory tasks: Nobre (2022) focused on contextual-spatial recall, while Kausler and his colleagues studied the action-oriented type of memory.
Selecting different memory tasks, such as the ephemeral, which overlap with procedural, episodic, and working memory, will help the researchers have a multi-dimensional understanding of memory mechanisms in this domain. More so, considering investigations to apply expected evaluation on all ages will be favorable to the applicability of the findings to different communities. Hence, neuroimaging methods with behavioral metrics can unravel the neural mechanism behind age-related memory changes.
Compare and contrast the research findings. Do the two papers reach similar or different conclusions? If they provide different conclusions, what could account for the differences?
‘The papers analyze the link between STM and LTM in addition to but disambiguate the areas of emphasis and set the target (age) groups. Nobre (2022) found that the STM and LTM show a reduction in their efficiency as healthy aging progresses, and an association exists between the two memory systems within the age range investigated. This implies that STM and LTM are susceptible to the aging process and in localization-contextual concepts that relate to spatial context. On the other hand, Kausler & Wiley (1991) found that prior retrieval involving some mental load helps recall later regardless of age. However, participation in such retrieval calls for a high-level thinking process. While Nobre (2022) explored the retention of STM-LTM relationship with age, Kausler and Wiley’s study looked at the effects of retrieval of information on the recall of the same data in adults. Rings in the conclusions may derive from the different memory domains inspected and the unique approaches used, which underlines the in -grained of memory techniques and the call for the acknowledgment of numerous factors such as memorandum demands and cognitive effort in memory research.
Identify possible limitations of the papers you read or new questions that could be addressed with future research. What could the findings look like if the limitations or new questions were addressed?
Among the limitations of the papers are biased samples, for instance, the participants with predominantly Western, educated, industrial, prosperous, and democratic (WEIRD) profiles that might limit the representing populations or widening of the findings. Then, the other studies focusing on selected tasks may need to capture the whole complexity of the memory process, ignoring some integral aspects of memory performance, such as distractors and individual divergence in cognitive abilities or emotional states. Besides, the methodologies used in the research could have an issue of ecological validity to the point that the hypothetical tasks carried out in the laboratories may not represent the situations that the people in real life experience.
It would be helpful if the next research wave dealt with the shortcomings of the previous one by using more varied and representative samples, which included people from various cultures and socioeconomic statuses. Furthermore, time course studies could monitor memory changes with time to further understand the normal aging of the memory. Future studies should focus on personal uniqueness, like mental reserve function or way of life, to understand the effects on memory. Appointing more laboratory tasks that simulate accurate memory functions may also offer many clues about memory processes outside the laboratory routine.
Addressing these limitations can cause discoveries to be more informed of the memory performance in all directions and transferable conditions. Such research could show how cultural factors intricately affect memory performances or pinpoint protective elements safeguarding mental processes from cognitive decline among the elderly. One more feature of the ecologically valid task can depict concrete elements useful for inventing interventions or strategies to include memory functioning in daily life.
References
Kausler, D. H., & Wiley, J. G. (1991). Effects of short-term retrieval on adult age differences in long-term recall of actions. Psychology and Aging, 6(4), 661.file:///D:/Downloads/Effects%20of%20Short-Term%20Retrieval%20on%20Adult%20Age%20Differences%20in%20Long-Term%20Recall%20of%20Actions.pdf
Nobre, A. C. (2022). The relationship between short- and long-term memory is preserved across the age range.file:///D:/Downloads/Relationship%20between%20LTM%20and%20STM.pdf
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