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The QuadMax Task: A Novel Parametric Manipulation of Associative Memory Load in Adults Across the Lifespan

Adults of all ages are worse at remembering which items were previously seen together relative to memory for the individual items, and this associative memory deficit is exacerbated in aging. Whereas this literature has been dominated by studies of pair-wise associations, the present study examined whether these memory deficits were amplified for higher-order associations, particularly in older adults. Adults across the lifespan (Experiment 1: n = 252, 18-83 years) and in extreme age groups (Experiment 2: n = 64, 19-25 and 66-76 years) completed a novel recognition task in which they studied word pairs, triplets, and quadruplets and were later tested on their memory for repeated, recombined, and novel word sets. Associative memory deficits were seen in both experiments as significantly fewer correct responses to repeated (hits) and more incorrect responses to recombined sets (recombined false alarm, FA) that increased from pairs to triplets to quadruplets, with older age groups making significantly more recombined FA’s than younger age groups. These findings replicate and extend the paired-associative memory literature by demonstrating that associative memory deficits increase both with demands on binding processes at higher associative loads and with aging. They further demonstrate the feasibility of manipulating and assessing associative memory load using our novel QuadMax task.