How Do Older Adults Maintain Corrections in Knowledge Across a Lengthy Delay?

Older adults often correct errors in existing knowledge as effectively as younger adults despite the fact that inaccurate knowledge has the potential to cause interference with memory for a correct response. In the current experiments, we sought to explore whether error corrections are maintained across a delay and identify mechanisms that may support this process. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults answered general knowledge questions, rated confidence in their responses, were shown feedback, and rated their prior knowledge of the question and answer. Half of the participants took a final test after a 6-min delay and half returned 1 week later. Across a 1-week delay, older adults maintained a greater proportion of corrected responses than did younger adults. In Experiment 2, we examined whether participants use their memory for errors on the initial test to mediate retrieval of the correct answer on the final test (i.e., the mediator hypothesis). Participants were more likely to answer questions correctly on a final test when they recalled their initial error, but memory for the initial error was a stronger predictor of final test accuracy for younger adults than for older adults. Additionally, older adults, in comparison with younger adults, corrected a higher proportion of errors when the initial error was forgotten. Overall, inaccurate knowledge did not interfere with older adults' ability to maintain revisions in memory. In addition, we found support for the mediator hypothesis; however, other mechanisms also contribute to older adults' error correction.