Immediate memory for different kinds of gestures in younger and older adults

Abstract

Immediate serial recall was compared in 24 younger and 24 older subjects with four kinds of material: written words, pointing to spatial locations, symbolic gestures, and static hand shapes resembling those used in American Sign Language. Each set was encoded in three conditions: one control condition and two interference conditions (articulatory and spatial suppression). A 2 x 4 x 3 ANOVA of memory spans yielded significant effects of age, material, and condition, qualified by interactions between material and condition and between age and condition. The recall of symbolic gestures and of manual shapes but not pointing gestures to spatial locations was disrupted by a concurrent articulatory task. Spatial suppression interfered more with the performance of the older subjects than of the younger subjects. The relative contributions of the modality-specific components and of the central executive of the working memory system are discussed.