Does Self-Regulatory Focus Affect Memory Strategy Use? Exploring and Explaining the Relationship between These Factors in Younger and Older Adults.

We examined how promotion-based and prevention-based self-regulatory focus guides young and older adults’ memory strategy selection. We found that both types of self-regulatory focus influence memory strategy usage of old, but not young, adults. This suggests that self-regulatory focus interventions could potentially improve older adults’ memory by optimizing strategy selection.