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Aging and the time course of semantic activation
Journal of Gerontology
|March 1, 1986
Summary
Older adults show slower semantic activation, impacting how quickly they process word associations. This study reveals age-related differences in automatic processing speed, challenging previous theories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Development
Background:
- Cognitive aging research explores age-related changes in mental processes.
- Theories like Hasher and Zacks (1979) proposed age-invariant automatic processing.
- Understanding semantic activation speed is crucial for cognitive function across the lifespan.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age differences in the speed of semantic activation.
- To examine how stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) affects priming in young and elderly adults.
- To test the hypothesis of age-invariant automatic processing.
Main Methods:
- Participants: 54 young adults (mean age 20.2) and 54 elderly adults (mean age 68.4).
- Task: Lexical decision task where participants identified words.
- Stimuli: Associated, unassociated, and neutral word primes followed by target words.
- Procedure: Varied stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) at 150, 450, and 1,000 ms.
Main Results:
- A significant age difference was found in the minimum SOA required for priming to occur.
- Elderly participants required a longer SOA to exhibit priming compared to young adults.
- Priming (faster responses to associated primes) was observed at shorter SOAs in younger individuals.
Conclusions:
- Age-related slowing in semantic activation speed is evident.
- Contrary to some theories, automatic activation speed appears to differ between age groups.
- These findings suggest age impacts the efficiency of cognitive processing, particularly in automatic tasks.