Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Psikoloji Bölümü Beytepe Ankara Much research on aging and cognition during the past decade has focused on age differences in two types of memory: implicit and explicit. Age differences in implicit and explicit memory tests were examined in this research. Effects of age (20-27 vs. 65-over), coding (physical vs. semantic) and test type (implicit vs. explicit) on memory performance were tested. A total of 96 subjects (48 male, 48 female) participated in this study. Experiment began with a study phase during which participants coded words based on perceptual (physical coding) or conceptual (semantic coding). After a study phase, participants underwent distractor task (intermediary activity). Finally, in a test phase, implicit memory was assessed with word stem completion test and explicit memory was assessed with a cued recall test. Analyses of variance and the Tukey test techniques have been used for evaluation of measurements. Statistical analysis demonstrated significant main effects of age and coding, interaction effects of age x coding, age x test type, coding x test type, and finally age x coding x test type on memory scores were significant. In older adults semantic coding was impaired but physical coding was preserved. In both memory tests (implicit and explicit memory tests), older adults had higher performance after physical coding compared to semantic coding. Findings from the study are discussed with respect to their implications in understanding age-related changes in imlicit and explicit memory as well as the mediating effects of different types of coding in memory tasks. In this direction, the subject of implicit memory that is defined in the manner of recollection of information without being awere of it and whose importance has been stressed in aging. Key words: Aging, implicit memory, explicit memory, level-of-processing.. Keywords : Aging, Implicit memory, Explicit memory, Level of processing