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Category-specific naming effect in non-brain-damaged individuals
Patrick Coppens1, Darcy Frisinger
1Communication Disorders and Sciences, Plattsburgh State University of New York, Plattsburgh, NY 12901, USA. patrick.coppens@plattsburgh.edu
Brain and Language
|May 18, 2005
Summary
The category effect in naming tasks appears in older adults, not younger ones. This suggests normal aging influences semantic memory, impacting how we name living versus nonliving things.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- A category effect (living vs. nonliving) in confrontation naming is linked to brain conditions.
- Previous studies show conflicting results regarding this effect in healthy individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the category effect in confrontation naming across different age groups in healthy adults.
- To determine if age-related changes in semantic memory contribute to the category effect.
Main Methods:
- Ninety healthy participants were divided into three age groups: young, young-elderly, and old-elderly.
- Stimuli were controlled for difficulty and equated on word properties (frequency, familiarity, age of acquisition, visual complexity, name agreement).
- Confrontation naming tasks were administered to assess performance.
Main Results:
- The category effect was observed in both elderly groups but not in the younger group.
- A gender effect was present in the younger group but absent in the elderly groups.
- These findings indicate age-related differences in semantic processing.
Conclusions:
- The category effect seen in neurological conditions may partly stem from normal aging processes affecting semantic memory.
- Age, rather than pathology alone, appears to influence the living/nonliving category effect in naming.
- Semantic memory undergoes age-related changes that impact object confrontation naming.
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