Memory for Pictures: Does an Age-Related Decline Exist?

In the present experiments, the effects of varying detail on memory were examined. In Experiment 1, pictorial embellishment was varied by presenting old and young adults with normal photographs, high-contrast photographs, or line drawings, and testing their memory immediately and 4 weeks later. All of the subjects did best with the most elaborate pictures (normal photographs), and old subjects remembered as well as young at the immediate but not at the delayed interval. In Experiment 2, detail was varied by adding background to line drawings of a central object. Subjects of both ages profited from enhanced background detail, and there were no differences in memory as a function of age. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2, except that subjects studied the pictures under divided attention conditions. Again, subjects of both age recognized elaborate pictures best, and no significant age differences emerged. The studies suggest that old and young adults profit from visual embellishment and that memory for meaningful pictures remains relatively intact with age.