Message Repetition Improves Older and Younger Adult Memory for Appointment Information: Implications for Automated Telephone Messaging

Abstract

Automated telephone messaging systems have dramatically expanded communication about health services. However, few studies have investigated the design of these messages. Our earlier research examined the impact of organization and length on age differences in memory for appointment messages delivered by an automated telephone messaging system. The present study investigated if message repetition (0, 1, 2 repetitions) improved older (mean age=71) and younger (mean age=19) adult memory for appointment messages that varied in length. One message repetition reduced age differences for answering questions about the messages, but did not reduce age differences for a free recall measure, suggesting that older adults only took differential advantage of increased presentation time when they were also provided additional retrieval support. Younger but not older participants also benefitted from a second repetition of the messages. Younger adults may better monitor ongoing comprehension and gauge what additional processing is needed to take advantage of repeated presentations. The present findings show that older as well as younger adults benefit from at least one repetition of appointment messages delivered by an automated message system, suggesting that repetition can be an important feature of automated telephone messaging systems for both older and younger clients.