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Lexical priming deficits as a function of age.
1Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs 80933-7150.
Behavioral Neuroscience
|April 1, 1990
Summary
Aging impacts both implicit and explicit memory. Elderly individuals showed reduced priming effects and impairments in recall, suggesting a decline in cognitive functions with age.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Implicit memory, which operates unconsciously, and explicit memory, which involves conscious recall, are crucial for cognitive function.
- Understanding how aging affects these memory systems is vital for addressing age-related cognitive decline.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of aging on implicit memory using priming procedures.
- To compare implicit and explicit memory performance across different age groups.
Main Methods:
- Two priming experiments were conducted: a homophone spelling test and a word-stem completion task.
- Participants also completed cognitive assessments including the WAIS-R and tests of frontal lobe function, alongside explicit memory tests (recall and recognition).
Main Results:
- While young adults showed clear priming, elderly subjects exhibited a high baseline that potentially obscured priming in one experiment.
- All age groups demonstrated priming in the second experiment, but individuals in their 70s and 80s showed significantly lower priming scores.
- Elderly participants were also impaired on immediate and delayed recall tests.
Conclusions:
- These findings suggest a decline in both implicit and explicit memory functions with advancing age.
- Age-related changes in cognitive processes may impact various aspects of memory performance.