# EFFECTS OF AGING ON MEMORY FOR SOURCE OF INFORMATION

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 1992 · $141,804

## Abstract

Older adults not only have difficulty remembering the content of
information, but they also have problems in remembering the source and
context of information.  The present project examines age deficits in
remembering the source of information and is guided by a source monitoring
framework (Hashtroudi, Johnson, and Chrosniak, 1989; Johnson, 1988a) that
classifies source monitoring situations and highlights the central aspects
of source monitoring processes.  According to this framework, source
attributions are based upon characteristics of activated memories such as
perceptual detail, spatial/temporal information, cognitive operations
information, and thoughts and feelings.  Decisions regarding source
involve evaluating the kind and amount of these attributes and may also
require reasoning processes based on retrieving additional information
from memory.  The proposed experiments will assess the relative
contribution of various memory characteristics to age differences in
remembering source.  Based on preliminary findings, it is expected that
the greatest age deficits will occur in using perceptual information, and
it is suggested that, under certain circumstances, perceptual deficits are
related to a selective focus on thoughts and feelings.  The experiments
also examine whether older adults use different criteria than younger
adults in making decisions about the origin of events, and whether age
deficits in remembering source are dissociated from deficits in
remembering content, as is the case with amnesic patients.  We also
investigate the possibility that source information may affect performance
on indirect tests, although may not be accessible to voluntary recall.
Finally, we will examine the relationship between "source forgetting" and
"source amnesia" (Schacter, Harbluk, and McLachlan, 1984) and a possible
link between source monitoring deficits and frontal lobe functioning.  The
findings from these experiments should help characterize the nature of age
deficits in remembering source, and may also contribute to our
understanding of the more general issue of age deficits in memory.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121064
- **Project number:** 5R01AG009253-03
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** ECR5E2LU5BL6
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID SILBER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1992
- **Award amount:** $141,804
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1990-08-01 → 1994-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121064

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121064, EFFECTS OF AGING ON MEMORY FOR SOURCE OF INFORMATION (5R01AG009253-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121064. Licensed CC0.

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