Passage
Research suggests that cognitive changes occur with age. Though dementia is common, occurring in about 14% of individuals age 71 and older and in almost 34% of individuals 90 and older, a majority of older adults exhibit some degree of "normal" cognitive decline. The following studies were conducted on 605 older adults (mean age = 78.2) who did not show any signs of dementia and 590 younger adult participants (mean age = 28.8) .Cognition studiesParticipants were asked to solve five puzzles designed to test their ability to apply new information, reason inductively and deductively, and use logic. Participants were also asked to complete a 20-item vocabulary and grammar test. The older adults performed significantly worse than the younger adults on the puzzles, but there was no significant difference between the groups on the vocabulary/grammar test.Focus studiesWhen asked to read a short story and then answer a series of questions assessing comprehension (focused condition) , older adults performed equally well as the younger adults. However, when asked to read a similar story while wearing headphones playing another story that was to be ignored (distraction condition) , older adults performed worse than younger adults when answering questions assessing comprehension of the story they read.Memory studiesWhen asked to memorize 30 neutral items (eg, a key, a pencil, a book) , the images of which were presented serially, younger adults performed significantly better when asked to list the items immediately after seeing them and when asked to list the items after performing a distraction task. In a second trial, both groups were serially presented with 30 pictures of faces showing positive, negative, or neutral expressions. The groups were later asked to identify these faces among a set of 100. Results are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Average number of correctly identified faces for older and younger adult groups
-If the researchers in the third study wanted to test the influence of aging on context-dependent memory effects, they could:

Question

Passage
Research suggests that cognitive changes occur with age. Though dementia is common, occurring in about 14% of individuals age 71 and older and in almost 34% of individuals 90 and older, a majority of older adults exhibit some degree of "normal" cognitive decline. The following studies were conducted on 605 older adults (mean age = 78.2) who did not show any signs of dementia and 590 younger adult participants (mean age = 28.8) .Cognition studiesParticipants were asked to solve five puzzles designed to test their ability to apply new information, reason inductively and deductively, and use logic. Participants were also asked to complete a 20-item vocabulary and grammar test. The older adults performed significantly worse than the younger adults on the puzzles, but there was no significant difference between the groups on the vocabulary/grammar test.Focus studiesWhen asked to read a short story and then answer a series of questions assessing comprehension (focused condition) , older adults performed equally well as the younger adults. However, when asked to read a similar story while wearing headphones playing another story that was to be ignored (distraction condition) , older adults performed worse than younger adults when answering questions assessing comprehension of the story they read.Memory studiesWhen asked to memorize 30 neutral items (eg, a key, a pencil, a book) , the images of which were presented serially, younger adults performed significantly better when asked to list the items immediately after seeing them and when asked to list the items after performing a distraction task. In a second trial, both groups were serially presented with 30 pictures of faces showing positive, negative, or neutral expressions. The groups were later asked to identify these faces among a set of 100. Results are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Average number of correctly identified faces for older and younger adult groups
-If the researchers in the third study wanted to test the influence of aging on context-dependent memory effects, they could:

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Context-dependent memory refers to the fact that individuals are better able to remember information when they are in the same context in which that information was learned. Context refers to the physical environment in which the original learning took place or the original memory was encoded. Context-dependent memory helps to explain why, when you meet people in one context (eg, in class) and then run into them in another context (eg, at Starbucks), you may have trouble remembering their names or how you know them. In this example, if participants are first exposed to images of faces in one room, they are more likely to recognize those same faces if they are in the same room rather than if they are in a different room. This design must be performed on participants from both age groups so that this effect can be compared between the older and the younger participants. In this way, context-dependent memory effects in the younger adults will serve as a baseline to determine the influence of aging on context-dependent memory effects. (Choice A) Breaking the older group into two groups would allow for the determination of context-dependent memory effects in the older group. However, if this design is not repeated in the younger group, there will be no baseline to determine how age influences context-dependent effects. (Choices C and D) Background information or context provided about the pictures themselves would not influence context-dependent memory, which applies to the context in which memory is acquired and retrieved. Educational objective: Context-dependent memory is the process whereby information is more easily recalled when an individual is in the same context (eg, room, setting) where he or she first learned the information. To determine the influence of aging on context-dependent memory, a comparison between older and younger participants is needed.

Passage Research Suggests That Cognitive Changes Occur with Age. Though Dementia