Related Experiment Videos
Aging and the word frequency effect: a lexical decision investigation
M J Tainturier1, M Tremblay, A R Lecours
1Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier Côte-des-Neiges, Montréal, Canada.
Neuropsychologia
|January 1, 1989
Summary
The word frequency effect on word recognition remains consistent across adulthood. This indicates that normal aging does not impact automatic cognitive processes involved in word recognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
Background:
- The word frequency effect, where more frequent words are recognized faster and more accurately, is a well-established phenomenon in psycholinguistics.
- Understanding how this effect changes with age is crucial for comprehending cognitive aging and its underlying neural mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the diachrony of the word frequency effect across different adult age groups.
- To test the hypotheses that the frequency effect persists throughout adulthood and is magnified in older adults.
Main Methods:
- A lexical decision task was administered to 20 young and 20 older healthy adults.
- The experiment measured reaction times and accuracy in word recognition as a function of word frequency.
Main Results:
- A significant word frequency effect was observed in both young and older adult groups, supporting the first hypothesis.
- The magnitude of the word frequency effect was found to be identical between the two age groups, refuting the second hypothesis.
Conclusions:
- Normal aging (senescence) does not appear to interfere with automatic, unconscious mental processes like word recognition.
- Consistent word frequency effects across adulthood suggest preserved automatic cognitive functions.
- Deviations in the word frequency effect among healthy elderly adults may serve as a cognitive marker for underlying diseases.