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Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment
Published on: June 25, 2019
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Effects of Semantic Interference and Facilitation on Lexical Retrieval: Evolution in Healthy Aging
Sarah Gilis1, Laurent Lefebvre1, Isabelle Simoes Loureiro1
1Department of Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium.
Experimental Aging Research
|November 8, 2025
Summary
Lexical retrieval is impacted by semantic links, with taxonomic relations causing more interference than thematic ones, regardless of age. Aging primarily affects processing speed and accuracy, not the semantic network structure.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Language
- Aging Studies
Background:
- Word retrieval difficulties, like anomia, are common with aging.
- Lexical retrieval declines with age due to slower processing and reduced inhibition.
- The Picture-Word Interference (PWI) paradigm assesses lexical access.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate how semantic links influence lexical retrieval.
- Determine if age affects semantic influence on word retrieval.
- Examine the role of taxonomic and thematic relations in lexical access across age groups.
Main Methods:
- Used the PWI paradigm with 55 French-speaking adults (30 young, 25 elderly).
- Employed four distractor conditions: taxonomic, thematic, unrelated, and neutral.
- Measured reaction times and accuracy.
Main Results:
- Elderly adults were slower and less accurate overall.
- Taxonomic distractors caused the most interference (longer RTs, lower accuracy) in both age groups.
- Thematic and unrelated distractors showed moderate interference compared to neutral.
Conclusions:
- Semantic relationships significantly impact lexical retrieval, irrespective of age.
- Age-related differences in lexical retrieval are mainly due to processing speed and inhibitory control.
- Aging affects processing speed more than the structure of semantic interference, with preserved semantic knowledge potentially offering a compensatory role.
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