What-where-when memory and encoding strategies in healthy aging

Older adults exhibit disproportionate impairments in memory for item-associations. These impairments may stem from an inability to self-initiate deep encoding strategies. The present study investigates this using the "treasure-hunt task"; a what-where-when style episodic memory test that requires individuals to "hide" items around complex scenes. This task separately assesses memory for item, location, and temporal order, as well as bound what-where-when information. The results suggest that older adults are able to ameliorate integration memory deficits by using self-initiated encoding strategies when these are externally located and therefore place reduced demands on working memory and attentional resources.