Information Retrieval Performance on Story Recall in Normal Aging

Objectives: The present study aimed to determine whether stimulus modality, age group, and time of performance differed in story recall performance in normal aging. Methods: Seventy-three healthy older adults were divided into two groups, 65-74 years old and 75+ years old, and randomly assigned to an auditory condition and an audiovisual condition to perform a story recall task. For each independent variable, event sequencing scores and total number of information units (IUs) were compared, and information-finding behaviors were categorized into reformulation, repetition, filler, and insertion in order to compare the frequency of production by type of information-finding behavior.Results: First, there was no significant difference between groups in event sequencing score according to modalities, age, and time interval. Second, there was no significant difference between groups in the total number of IUs according to modalities, age, and time interval, but all groups performed better on average in the second trials than in the first. Third, the frequencies of all types of information-finding behaviors decreased in the second trials compared to the first, and there was a significant difference between time intervals, especially in fillers and insertions. Conclusion: This study provides meaningful information about variables that should be considered when establishing norms for story recall assessment.