Age and forgetting rate with pictorial stimuli

The rate of forgetting standardized line drawings of common objects was assessed in groups of young (M age = 22 years) and older (M age = 70.5 years) subjects. The two groups forgot equal quantities of pictorial stimuli over successive intervals of 10 min, 2 hr, and 48 hr, after being matched for original learning. In contrast, the older subjects showed the expected age decrement in reproduction of geometric designs from memory. These findings indicate that aging does not affect retention of pictures when differences in learning and retrieval abilities are controlled.