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Category: Project

Description: The present study investigated young and older adults’ associative memory for faces associated with scams, donations, or a neutral label and whether trustworthiness would be reflective of these associations. In three experiments, participants viewed faces associated with these labels for either six seconds (Exp 1A), three seconds (Exp 1B), or unlimited time (Exp 2) and were tested on their memory for the labels. In addition, they rated the faces on their honesty before and after the label was presented. While young adults were more accurate than older adults when recalling the associated labels overall, both age groups showed a significant reduction in honesty ratings for the faces associated with scams after the association was made in all experiments. Therefore, these results illustrate that despite associative memory deficits, older adults can adjust their trust ratings for faces based on learning associative information regarding scams and fraud.