Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.

Although healthy aging is accompanied by a general decline in memory functioning, environmental support at retrieval can improve older adults' (+65 years) episodic remembering. Despite those over the age of 65 years representing a growing proportion of the population, few environmental retrieva...

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Main Author: Coral J Dando
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069937
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author Coral J Dando
author_facet Coral J Dando
author_sort Coral J Dando
collection DOAJ
description Although healthy aging is accompanied by a general decline in memory functioning, environmental support at retrieval can improve older adults' (+65 years) episodic remembering. Despite those over the age of 65 years representing a growing proportion of the population, few environmental retrieval support methods have been empirically evaluated for use with older witnesses and victims of crime. Here, the efficacy of a novel retrieval technique, the Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context, is compared with a standard Mental Reinstatement of Context and a no support control (Control). Fifty-one participants witnessed an unexpected live event, and 48 hours later were interviewed using one of three aforementioned techniques. In line with predictions emanating from cognitive theories of aging and the environmental support hypothesis, participants in the Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context condition recalled significantly more correct information and fewer inaccurate items. The Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context technique appears to scaffold memory retrieval in an age-appropriate manner during a post-event interview, possibly by encouraging more effortful retrieval and reducing dual-task load. As such, this procedure offers an effective alternative to current approaches, adding to the toolbox of techniques available to forensic and other interviewers.
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spelling doaj-art-ecbea3407abe463db4e628c8da2e94e72025-08-20T02:22:28ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0187e6993710.1371/journal.pone.0069937Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.Coral J DandoAlthough healthy aging is accompanied by a general decline in memory functioning, environmental support at retrieval can improve older adults' (+65 years) episodic remembering. Despite those over the age of 65 years representing a growing proportion of the population, few environmental retrieval support methods have been empirically evaluated for use with older witnesses and victims of crime. Here, the efficacy of a novel retrieval technique, the Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context, is compared with a standard Mental Reinstatement of Context and a no support control (Control). Fifty-one participants witnessed an unexpected live event, and 48 hours later were interviewed using one of three aforementioned techniques. In line with predictions emanating from cognitive theories of aging and the environmental support hypothesis, participants in the Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context condition recalled significantly more correct information and fewer inaccurate items. The Sketch Mental Reinstatement of Context technique appears to scaffold memory retrieval in an age-appropriate manner during a post-event interview, possibly by encouraging more effortful retrieval and reducing dual-task load. As such, this procedure offers an effective alternative to current approaches, adding to the toolbox of techniques available to forensic and other interviewers.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069937
spellingShingle Coral J Dando
Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.
PLoS ONE
title Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.
title_full Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.
title_fullStr Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.
title_full_unstemmed Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.
title_short Drawing to remember: external support of older adults' eyewitness performance.
title_sort drawing to remember external support of older adults eyewitness performance
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069937
work_keys_str_mv AT coraljdando drawingtorememberexternalsupportofolderadultseyewitnessperformance