The Aging Neighborhood: Phonological Density in Naming

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Aging
• Lexical Access

Background:

• Aging impacts word retrieval for speech production, despite intact lexical knowledge.
• Lexical variables like phonological neighborhood density influence word recognition and production.
• Understanding these effects is crucial for models of the human lexicon.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how lexical variables affect picture naming accuracy and latency in adults across a wide age range (22-86 years).
• To explore the specific influence of phonological neighborhood density on naming performance in aging adults.
• To examine the interaction between age and lexical variables in word production.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study design.
• Picture naming task assessing accuracy and response latency.
• Analysis of lexical variables including target frequency and phonological neighborhood density.
• Participant age ranged from 22 to 86 years.

Main Results:

• Older participants exhibited slower and less accurate naming responses.
• Facilitative effects of target frequency on naming became stronger with increasing age.
• Phonological neighborhood density interacted with age: older adults were slower on high-density items.

Conclusions:

• Aging impairs word production, leading to slower and less accurate picture naming.
• The facilitative effect of word frequency on naming strengthens with age.
• In older adults, dense phonological neighborhoods hinder word production, suggesting diminished facilitation and increased competition within the lexicon.