#### Paper Citation: Schwartz, S. T., Siegel, A. L. M., Eich, T. S., & Castel, A. D. (2023). Value-directed memory selectivity relies on goal-directed knowledge of value structure prior to encoding in young and older adults. *Psychology and Aging, 38*(1), 30-48. --- #### Abstract People are generally able to selectively attend and remember high-value over low-value information. Here, we investigated whether young and older adults would display typical value-based memory selectivity effects for to-be-learned item–value associations when goal-directed information about the meaning of associated values was presented before and after encoding. In two experiments, both young and older adults were presented with one (Experiment 1) or multiple (Experiment 2) lists of words that were arbitrarily paired with different numerical values (e.g., “door—8”) or font colors (e.g., “door” presented in red), which indicated each word’s value. In Experiment 1, participants were told that the numerical value indicated the relative importance of each item either before they studied the list (preencoding), after they studied it (postencoding), or not at all (no value control instructions). Older adults were significantly more selective in the preencoding condition relative to the other conditions, whereas younger adults were not selective in any condition on this single-list (numerical) value task of Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, young and older adults were tested on four additional lists of both pre- and postencoding trials each after studying and recalling four lists of words without any value instructions. Results from Experiment 2 revealed that both young and older adults selectively prioritized high-value words on the preencoding trials, but not on postencoding trials, on this color-based categorical (low–medium–high) value task. The present study highlights a critical role of goal-directed knowledge of value-based instructions prior to encoding to facilitate typically observed value-directed memory selectivity for important information. --- #### Public Significance Statement The present study examines how expectations and goals can influence selective memory for important information in young and older adults. We found that awareness of a value-directed goal state prior to learning may be necessary for effective value-based prioritization of important information in memory, and that younger adults may require several trials of learning to effectively engage processes that maximize memory efficiency compared to older adults who quickly engage these processes. Overall, we provide novel evidence regarding the conditions under which young and older adults engage selective memory processes for important information based on when value-directed goals are implemented. ( --- #### Correspondence Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Shawn T. Schwartz, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Building 420, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. **Email**: stschwartz@stanford.edu