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This study investigated the effect of elaboration mechanisms on the relationships between encoding and retrieval processes with increasing age. Three age groups (20-39, 50-69, and 70-89) were evaluated on two orienting tasks (phonetic vs semantic) followed by free and cued recall. Elaboration was evaluated by the degree of concreteness of the material (abstract vs concrete words). The results showed : 1 I for the abstract-material condition, the three age groups showed similar benefits from both semantic encoding and cued recall ; 2 I for the concrete-material condition, only the old-age group had a large benefit from cognitive support at both encoding and retrieval phases. These results are consistent with an environmental hypothesis, but they also suggest that aging affects particularly memory tasks requiring an interdependency between encoding and retrieval processes.
