Repetition priming and change in functional ability in older persons without dementia

Adverse consequences such as institutionalization and death are associated with compromised activities of daily living in aging, yet there is little known about risk factors for the development and progression of functional disability. Using generalized linear models, the authors examined the association between the ability to benefit from repetition and rate of change in functional ability in 160 nondemented elders participating in the Religious Orders Study. Three single-word repetition priming tasks were administered that varied in the degree to which visual-perceptual or conceptual processing was invoked. Decline in functional ability was less rapid, during follow-up of up to 10 years, in persons with better baseline priming performance on a task known to draw on both visual-perceptual and conceptual processing (word-stem completion). By contrast, change in functional ability was not associated with priming on tasks that are known to draw primarily on either visual-perceptual (threshold word-identification) or conceptual (category exemplar production) processing. The results are discussed in terms of a common biological substrate in the inferotemporal neocortex, supporting efficient processing of meaningful visual-perceptual experience and proficient performance of activities of daily living.