Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 27, 2026
04:30
An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing
Published on: October 25, 2019
6.0K
The implementation of expectancy-based strategic processes is delayed in normal aging.
Carmen Noguera1, Sergio Fernández1, Dolores Álvarez1
1Department of Psychology, University of Almería, Almería, Spain.
Plos One
|March 26, 2019
Summary
Older adults show slower strategic processing compared to younger adults. Expectancy-based priming effects emerge later in older individuals, indicating age-related delays in implementing cognitive strategies.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
- Human Development
Background:
- Cognitive aging research explores age-related changes in mental processes.
- Strategic processing and expectancy-based priming are key to understanding cognitive flexibility.
- Previous studies indicate general declines in cognitive speed and control with age.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age differences in the time course of implementing expectancy-based strategic processes.
- To determine if younger and older adults differ in their ability to utilize frequency information for prediction.
- To assess the relationship between age, processing speed, working memory, and attentional control.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments using strategic priming tasks with varying proportions of congruent and incongruent trials.
- Manipulation of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) at 400, 1000, and 2000 ms.
- Assessment of working memory and attention control using change localization and antisaccade tasks.
Main Results:
- Older adults exhibited slower processing speed, reduced working memory capacity, and decreased attentional control.
- Expectancy-based priming effects were delayed in older adults, appearing at 2000 ms compared to 1000 ms in younger adults.
- Performance decrements in older adults were more pronounced on antisaccade than prosaccade trials, indicating attentional control deficits.
Conclusions:
- Normal aging is associated with a slowed implementation of expectancy-based cognitive strategies.
- Age-related declines in processing speed, working memory, and attention impact strategic processing.
- The findings highlight critical temporal differences in cognitive strategy deployment between younger and older adults.
Related Concept Videos
01:15Expected Value
7.4K
The expected value is known as the "long-term" average or mean. This means that over the long term of experimenting over and over, you would expect this average. The expected average is represented by the symbol μ. It is calculated as follows:
7.4K
01:25Role of Communication in the Nursing Process II: Planning and Implementation
2.6K
Several factors are considered while creating a patient's care plan. Motivation is a factor in improving communication, and patients often require encouragement to try different approaches involving significant change. It is essential to involve the patient and family in decisions about the plan of care to determine whether the suggested methods are acceptable. Consider meeting critical comfort and safety needs before introducing new communication methods and techniques. Allow adequate time...
2.6K
01:24Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching II: Planning and Implementation
2.0K
Planning for learning involves the development of a teaching plan. Teaching plans are similar to nursing care plans—both follow the steps of the nursing process. Planning in the teaching process involves setting goals and outcomes. Here, goals identify what a patient needs to achieve to understand a healthcare topic better, whereas the outcomes are the action to be performed by the patient to achieve the goal within a timeframe. For example, if the goal is to educate the patient about...
2.0K
01:12Strategies of Self-Presentation I: Strategic Self-Presentation
205
Strategic self-presentation refers to individuals' intentional efforts to influence how others perceive them. This process is employed in various social and professional settings, such as job interviews, dating, politics, and legal contexts, where individuals seek to shape impressions to gain social or material advantages. While people generally present themselves in ways that align with their authentic characteristics, external factors, such as cognitive load, can hinder their ability to...
205
01:08Determination of Expected Frequency
2.6K
Suppose one wants to test independence between the two variables of a contingency table. The values in the table constitute the observed frequencies of the dataset. But how does one determine the expected frequency of the dataset? One of the important assumptions is that the two variables are independent, which means the variables do not influence each other. For independent variables, the statistical probability of any event involving both variables is calculated by multiplying the individual...
2.6K
02:41Chromatin Structure Regulates pre-mRNA Processing
8.1K
In eukaryotic cells, nascent mRNA transcripts need to undergo many post-transcriptional modifications to reach the cell cytoplasm and translate into functional proteins. For a long time, transcription and pre-mRNA processing were considered two independent events that occur sequentially in the cell. However, it has now been well established that transcription and pre-mRNA processing are two simultaneous processes that are precisely regulated inside the cell.
The chromatin structure, especially...
The chromatin structure, especially...
8.1K