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Memory plasticity, of the ability to improve one's memory performance through instruction and training, is known to decline during adulthood. However, direct comparisons among middle childhood, adulthood, and old age are lacking. The authors examined memory plasticity in an age-comparative multisession training study. One hundred and eight participants ages 9-10, 11-12, 20-25, and 65-78 years learned and practiced an imagery-based mnemonic technique to encode and retrieve words by location cues. Individuals of all ages were able to acquire and optimize use of the technique. Older adults and children showed similar baseline performance and improvement through mnemonic instruction. However, in line with tenets from life-span psychology (P. B. Baltes, 1987), children profited more from mnemonic practice and reached higher levels of final performance than did older adults. Keywords: aging, child development, episodic memory, lifespan, plasticity and training

A study measures the spontaneous skill maintenance of individuals in the 11-month follow-up sessions after termination of an intensive multisession mnemonic training program. Findings suggest evidence of differences in the maintenance of episode memory plasticity between children and adults whereby adults average performance levels were stable but the children memory performance improved considerably.