Following Instructions in Working Memory: Do Older Adults Show the Enactment Advantage?

Objectives: In young adults, the ability to verbally recall instructions in working memory is enhanced if the sequences are physically enacted by the participant (self-enactment) or the experimenter (demonstration) during encoding. Here we examine the effects of self-enactment and demonstration at encoding on working memory performance in older and younger adults.

Method: Fifty young (18-23 years) and 40 older (60-89 years) adults listened to sequences of novel action-object pairs before verbally recalling them in the correct order.