Motivated Memory in Younger and Older Adults: A Comparison of Self-serving and Prosocial Incentives

Despite its age-related declines, episodic memory remains sensitive to reward throughout the lifespan. Recent work suggests that prosocial motives are more influential in older vs. younger adults. However, the impact of prosocial reward on episodic memory is yet to be examined. The current study investigated the relative impact of self-serving and prosocial reward in younger and older adults using a motivated-encoding paradigm. Younger (n = 110) and older (n = 102) adults were randomly assigned to a reward recipient (self vs. charity). They viewed a series of scenes associated with high or low reward, with reward receipt contingent on performance during a subsequent old/new recognition test. Contrary to hypotheses, reward magnitude (high/low) and recipient (self/charity) did not influence recognition. However, response bias was sensitive to reward magnitude in both age groups. These findings suggest that the mechanisms of rewardmodulated memory may be similar for self-serving and prosocial reward across adulthood.