@article{hess_germain_swaim_osowski_2009, title={Aging and Selective Engagement: The Moderating Impact of Motivation on Older Adults' Resource Utilization}, volume={64}, ISSN={["1079-5014"]}, DOI={10.1093/geronb/gbp020}, abstractNote={Two studies were conducted to examine age differences in the impact of motivation in a social cognitive task. We tested the hypothesis that aging is associated with an increase in the selective engagement of cognitive resources in support of performance. Different-aged adults read descriptions of 2 people in order to determine which was better suited for a particular job. These descriptions contained behaviors that were either consistent or inconsistent with the job, and participants performed the task under conditions of high versus low accountability. Examination of memory for behavioral information revealed that accountability disproportionately affected older adults' performance, with the locus of this effect being in conscious recollection processes. This supports the aforementioned selective engagement hypothesis by demonstrating that the differential impact of the motivational manipulation was based in deliberative memory processes.}, number={4}, journal={JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES}, author={Hess, Thomas M. and Germain, Cassandra M. and Swaim, Elizabeth L. and Osowski, Nicole L.}, year={2009}, month={Jun}, pages={447–456} }
 @article{germain_hess_2007, title={Motivational influences on controlled processing: Moderating distractibility in older adults}, volume={14}, ISSN={["1744-4128"]}, DOI={10.1080/13825580600611302}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT Research has suggested that aging is associated with a decline in the efficiency of controlling processing operations. Three studies examined the moderating impact of personal relevance on age differences in one index of such operations: the ability to ignore distracting information. Young (17–26) and older (58–86) adults read a series of passages interspersed with irrelevant, distracting information, with the relevance of the passage content to these two age groups being systematically varied. For both groups, processing was more efficient and comprehension enhanced when passage relevance was high. These effects were particularly strong among older adults, a finding consistent with a growing body of data highlighting the importance of motivational factors in determining age differences in cognitive performance.}, number={5}, journal={AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION}, author={Germain, Cassandra M. and Hess, Thomas M.}, year={2007}, pages={462–486} }
 @article{hess_germain_rosenberg_leclerc_hodges_2005, title={Aging-related selectivity and susceptibility to irrelevant affective information}, volume={12}, ISSN={["1744-4128"]}, DOI={10.1080/13825580590925170}, abstractNote={Abstract Two experiments were conducted to examine the hypothesis that aging is associated with an increase in the selectivity associated with task engagement and related cognitive resource allocation. Adults ranging in age from 20 to 83 years were asked to provide attitude ratings about fictitious political program proposals that varied in terms of personal relevance. Of primary interest was the extent to which these attitude ratings would be influenced by the likability of the individual (i.e., source) responsible for the programs. Consistent with expectations, older adults were more likely than younger adults to provide attitude ratings consistent with the likableness of the source, with this effect being moderated by need for structure and personal relevance. The findings are supportive of the general argument that older adults are able to monitor and control the impact of irrelevant information on performance, but are most likely to engage in such operations in situations of high meaningfulness. Younger adults exhibit similar effects, but the variability across levels of meaningfulness increases with age, a pattern consistent with an aging-related increase in selectivity.}, number={2}, journal={AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION}, author={Hess, TM and Germain, CM and Rosenberg, DC and Leclerc, CM and Hodges, EA}, year={2005}, month={Jun}, pages={149–174} }