OBJECTIVES: Determining how individuals solve arithmetic problems is crucial for our understanding of human cognitive architecture. Elderly adults are supposed to use memory retrieval more often than younger ones. However, they might backup their retrieval by reconstructive strategies. In order to investigate this issue, we used the operand-recognition paradigm, which capitalizes on the fact that algorithmic procedures degrade the memory traces of the operands.
METHOD: Twenty-three older adults (M = 70.4) and 23 younger adults (M = 20.0) solved easy, difficult, and medium-difficulty addition and comparison problems and were then presented with a recognition task of the operands.
RESULTS: When one-digit numbers with sums larger than 10 were involved (medium-difficulty problem), it was more difficult for younger adults to recognize the operands after addition than comparison. In contrast, in older adults, recognition times of the operands were the same after addition and comparison.
DISCUSSION: Older adults, in contrast with younger adults, are able to retrieve the results of addition problems of medium difficulty. Contrary to what was suggested, older participants do not seem to resort to backup strategies for such problems. Finally, older adults' reliance on the more efficient retrieval strategy allowed them to catch up to younger adults in terms of solution times.