Encoding Strategies in Working Memory: Improving the Ability to Follow Instructions in Younger and Older Adults

Abstract

Completing everyday-life activities requires following instructions (FI), an ability that depends on working memory. Working memory (WM) is a limited-capacity system that temporarily stores and manipulates information. This limited capacity means it is useful to explore methods of enhancing its performance, including strategy use and prioritisation, across different populations. Given that only two studies have investigated strategy use in the FI literature, the first set of experiments tested explicit instructions for using verbal rehearsal and imagery strategies in young adults. The results showed that instructing strategies did not improve performance on an FI task when compared to approaching the task spontaneously (no-instructions). Moreover, in some cases, instructed strategies hindered memory performance, suggesting that instructing certain strategies might work as a constraint to the individuals’ cognitive system in choosing their appropriate strategy for the task. Another method that has yet to be studied in the FI paradigm is directing attention to valuable information (the prioritisation effect). Therefore, the second set of experiments examined this in younger and older adults. This involved assigning one item (the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th serial position) with more points than the others, whereby attention can strategically be directed. Although older adults’ performance was mostly less accurate than younger adults, both age groups showed the ability to prioritise the high-value items. Prioritising these items sometimes came at the cost of less-value items, a tendency that was sometimes more evident in older adults. The self-report strategy questionnaire used across the experiments showed that most strategies reported with the FI task were visual/imagery and/or verbal strategies, with a pattern of combining both. Implications for theoretical and practical contributions to working memory, encoding strategies, following instructions, and cognitive ageing are discussed.