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Aging and Verbal Memory Span: A Meta-Analysis

Department of Psychology and Center for Health and Behavior, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.

Address correspondence to Kara Bopp, who is now at Wofford College, 429 North Church St., Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC 29303; or Paul Verhaeghen, Department of Psychology, 430 Huntington Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244-2340. E-mail: BoppKL{at}wofford.edu or pverhaeg{at}psych.syr.edu

Using Brinley plots, this meta-analysis provides a quantitative examination of age differences in eight verbal span tasks. The main conclusions are these: (a) there are age differences in all verbal span tasks; (b) the data support the conclusion that working memory span is more age sensitive than short-term memory span; and (c) there is a linear relationship between span of younger adults and span of older adults. A linear model indicates the presence of three distinct functions, in increasing order of size of age effects: simple storage span; backward digit span; and working memory span.