Self-Referential Memory Encoding and Mind- Wandering in Younger and Older Adults

Abstract

Self-referencing, the relating of information to oneself, is a successful encoding strategy that improves memory across the lifespan. Mind-wandering, the shifting of thoughts from a task to selffocused information, is characterised by decreased cognitive performance and is reported by older adults less frequently than by younger adults. In the present study, we investigated a hypothetical relationship between mind-wandering and self-referential memory and whether this relationship decouples in healthy aging. Younger and older adults rated adjectives on how descriptive they were of themselves, Albert Einstein or assessed the commonness of the adjective. Participants were interrupted during the encoding task with randomly timed mind-wandering prompts and then completed a surprise free recall test. Results replicated prior demonstrations of enhanced memory for self-referenced information, whereas age and self-focus decreased reports of mind-wandering. In terms of effects of interest, we found that encoding condition as well as age impacted the number of words recalled and reports of mind-wandering. However, a single mechanism does not appear to account for both of these effects, and there was no compelling evidence for age differences in the relationships amongst the factors. Future research should further examine the relationships amongst self, memory, and mind-wandering across the lifespan.