Schedule of Events | Search Abstracts | Invited Symposia | Symposia | Poster Sessions | Data Blitz

Age-related differences in the relationship between creative thinking and false memory

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Preston P. Thakral¹ (), Patrizia Picado¹, Winta G. Kebede¹, Aleea L. Devitt²; ¹Smith College, ²The University of Waikato

Constructive retrieval processes can lead to increased rates of false memory (e.g., incorrectly claiming a new event has been previously experienced). Prior research in young adults has shown that the same constructive memory processes that lead to false memory have an adaptive benefit, in that they are positively correlated with divergent creative thinking ability (i.e., creatively combining diverse bits of information). In the present study, we investigate whether the positive link between false memory (recall and recognition) and divergent creative thinking changes with age. Older and younger adults completed the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm to measure false recall and recognition, and the Alternative Uses Task (AUT), a standard assessment of divergent creative thinking. Replicating prior findings, false recognition was positively correlated with performance on the AUT for younger adults. Importantly, there was no corresponding relationship observed in older adults. Interestingly, this interaction was not observed during false recall, which was positively correlated with performance on the AUT for both younger and older adults. Our findings indicate that healthy aging may be associated with the recruitment of differential retrieval processes during false recognition and divergent creative thinking. More broadly, our findings identify an age-related disconnect in the relationship between the positive benefits and negative consequences of constructive retrieval processes.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic