The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?

The survival effect in memory refers to the memory enhancement for materials encoded in reference to a survival scenario compared to those encoded in reference to a control scenario or with other encoding strategies. The current study examined whether this effect is well maintained in old age by tes...

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Main Authors: Lixia Yang, Karen P L Lau, Linda Truong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0095792&type=printable
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author Lixia Yang
Karen P L Lau
Linda Truong
author_facet Lixia Yang
Karen P L Lau
Linda Truong
author_sort Lixia Yang
collection DOAJ
description The survival effect in memory refers to the memory enhancement for materials encoded in reference to a survival scenario compared to those encoded in reference to a control scenario or with other encoding strategies. The current study examined whether this effect is well maintained in old age by testing young (ages 18-29) and older adults (ages 65-87) on the survival effect in memory for words encoded in ancestral and/or non-ancestral modern survival scenarios relative to a non-survival control scenario. A pilot study was conducted to select the best matched comparison scenarios based on potential confounding variables, such as valence and arousal. Experiment 1 assessed the survival effect with a well-matched negative control scenario in both young and older adults. The results showed an age-equivalent survival effect across an ancestral and a non-ancestral modern survival scenario. Experiment 2 replicated the survival effect in both age groups with a positive control scenario. Taken together, the data suggest a robust survival effect that is well preserved in old age across ancestral and non-ancestral survival scenarios.
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spelling doaj-art-eb5950bb33654ad3a2ae15a4af0785452025-08-20T02:14:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0195e9579210.1371/journal.pone.0095792The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?Lixia YangKaren P L LauLinda TruongThe survival effect in memory refers to the memory enhancement for materials encoded in reference to a survival scenario compared to those encoded in reference to a control scenario or with other encoding strategies. The current study examined whether this effect is well maintained in old age by testing young (ages 18-29) and older adults (ages 65-87) on the survival effect in memory for words encoded in ancestral and/or non-ancestral modern survival scenarios relative to a non-survival control scenario. A pilot study was conducted to select the best matched comparison scenarios based on potential confounding variables, such as valence and arousal. Experiment 1 assessed the survival effect with a well-matched negative control scenario in both young and older adults. The results showed an age-equivalent survival effect across an ancestral and a non-ancestral modern survival scenario. Experiment 2 replicated the survival effect in both age groups with a positive control scenario. Taken together, the data suggest a robust survival effect that is well preserved in old age across ancestral and non-ancestral survival scenarios.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0095792&type=printable
spellingShingle Lixia Yang
Karen P L Lau
Linda Truong
The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?
PLoS ONE
title The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?
title_full The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?
title_fullStr The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?
title_full_unstemmed The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?
title_short The survival effect in memory: does it hold into old age and non-ancestral scenarios?
title_sort survival effect in memory does it hold into old age and non ancestral scenarios
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0095792&type=printable
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