Adult Age Differences in Event Memory Updating: The Roles of Prior-Event Retrieval and Prediction

Remembering past events can lead to predictions of what is to come and to experiencing prediction errors when things change. Previous research has shown enhanced memory updating for ongoing events that are inconsistent with predictions based on past experiences. According to the Event Memory Retrieval and Comparison (EMRC) Theory, such memory updating depends on the encoding of configural representations that bind retrieved features of the previous event, changed features, and the relationship between the two. We investigated potential age-related differences in these mechanisms by showing older and younger adults two movies of everyday activities. Activities in the second movie either repeated from the first movie or included changed endings. During the second movie, before activities ended, participants were instructed to predict the upcoming action based on the first movie. One week later, participants were instructed to recall activity endings from the second movie. For younger adults, having predicted endings consistent with the first movie before seeing changed endings was subsequently associated with better recall of these changed endings and recollection that activities had changed. Conversely, for older adults, making such predictions prior to changes was associated with intruding details from the first movie endings and was less strongly associated with change recollection. Consistent with EMRC, these findings suggest that retrieval of relevant experiences when events change can trigger prediction errors that prompt associative encoding of existing memories and current perceptions. These mechanisms were less efficient in older adults, which may account for their poorer event memory updating than younger adults.