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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

Are verbal transformations sensitive to age differences and stimulus properties?

Maura Pilotti¹, Travis Simcox, John Baldy

¹School of Art and Sciences, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM 87701, USA. mpilotti@nmhu.edu

The American Journal of Psychology

|April 22, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Older adults experience fewer verbal transformations, which are illusory changes from repeated words. Age, not other factors, explained these declines, with young adults showing greater sensitivity to word frequency.

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Last Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

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Published on: April 19, 2017

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Auditory Perception
Human Aging Research

Background:

Verbal transformations are illusory perceptual changes caused by prolonged auditory repetition of a word.
Previous studies suggest age-related differences in reporting these transformations.
The influence of participant characteristics on these age differences requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate age-related differences in verbal transformation reports between young and older adults.
To determine if factors like cognitive integrity, hearing, vocabulary, or mood mediate age-related declines.
To explore age-based differences in sensitivity to stimulus properties.

Main Methods:

Participants (young and older adults) listened to repeated spoken words to elicit verbal transformations.
Reports of illusory percepts (new forms) and transitions were collected.
Participant characteristics (age, cognitive integrity, hearing, vocabulary, mood) and sensitivity to stimulus properties (veridical percept frequency, word neighborhood size) were assessed.

Main Results:

A significant age-related decline was observed in the reporting of new forms (illusory percepts).
A similar trend was noted for transitions, though not statistically significant.
Only age, not other measured characteristics, significantly predicted reports of illusory changes.
Young adults demonstrated sensitivity to veridical percept frequency, unlike older adults.
Both age groups showed sensitivity to the size of the word's phonetic neighborhood.

Conclusions:

Age-related declines in reporting verbal transformations are primarily linked to age itself.
Reduced sensitivity to stimulus frequency in older adults may contribute to these declines.
Findings align with the transmission deficit hypothesis regarding age-related changes in speech perception.