不同價值導向情境與內在動機對正常老化的連結記憶之影響

Abstract

過去研究顯示老年族群在連結記憶上表現顯著差於年輕族群，而價值導向記憶研究顯示年輕與老年族群在高價值項目記憶上沒有年齡差異。然而利用價值導向記憶討論連結記憶中年齡差異的研究顯示分歧的結果，並且年輕與老年族群對不同價值情境的內在動機差異與其連結記憶表現的關係尚未被釐清。因此，本研究聚焦討論在不同價值情境中，年輕與老年族群在連結記憶表現的差異以及價值效果。本研究募集教育年數與性別配對的24位年輕人與24位認知功能正常年長者，並蒐集其對於未來時間感與環境保育的態度。受試者分別在數字(研究一)、健康價值與環保價值情境(研究二)中各自重複學習18個字詞配對，並進行線索回憶作業。結果顯示各價值情境中不論高分與低分字詞配對上，老年族群表現均顯著差於年輕族群。儘管兩年齡族群均能顯著地回憶出更多高分字詞配對，但老年族群需要更多學習經驗才能展現出顯著價值效果。研究二中，年輕族群只在健康情境中回憶高分配對的表現顯著優於低分配對，並且對於未來時間感知較短的年輕受試者在回憶作業中表現出更大的價值差異；相反地，老年族群只在環保情境中顯著回憶高分配隊的表現明顯優於低分配對，並且較重視環境保育的老年受試者在回憶作業中表現出更大價值差異。本研究結果顯示，不同價值情境中與年齡相關的價值效果差異可能與不同年齡族群間的內在動機差異有關，並且價值導向記憶中價值效果與個人內在動機具有相關性。

The present study aimed to investigate the age-related difference of the relationship between intrinsic motivation and value-directed remembering in associative memory. Participants comprised 24 young adults and 24 cognitively intact older adults, who studied three sets of 18-word pairs under each of three value structures: numeric-based, Health-based, and Environment-based value structures. The results revealed that although both age groups could selectively remember high-value pairs regardless of the value structures, older participants needed more study trials to show the value effect on their performance. Besides, when applying the naturalistic value structures, the young and older participants showed different patterns on performance concerning the value effect, and an interrelation between individual motivation and value effect was also revealed. That is, the young participants remember more high-value than the low-value pairs only in the Health condition, and the value effect was particularly prominent for younger participants with increased concerns for health issues. By contrast, the older participants remembered more high-value than the low-value pairs only in the Environment condition, and older participants who were more concerned about environment issues showed a larger value effect compared to their old counterparts. Overall, these results indicated that the age-related difference in value effect between value structures might be attributed to different intrinsic motivations between the two age groups. The present study further highlights the associations between individual motivation and their value-directed remembering performance.