Fine-grained changes to implicit memory for language processing across adulthood
Willem S van Boxtel1, Ashley Hart1, Zoey Gautreau1
1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|May 27, 2026
Summary
Aging impacts explicit memory and some implicit memory functions, but language processing remains stable. Older adults may use compensation strategies for language despite memory changes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Implicit memory changes with age are traditionally considered minimal compared to explicit memory.
- Linguistic tasks often show age-related decline in explicit abilities, but not implicit ones.
- The ecological validity of this dichotomy and subtle implicit memory changes across adulthood are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in implicit memory functioning across a continuous adult age range.
- To examine the relationship between implicit memory and language processing in aging.
- To determine if subtle changes in implicit memory occur throughout adulthood.
Main Methods:
- Employed a large, age-continuous sample (n=148) for cognitive assessments.
- Administered explicit and implicit cognitive tasks, followed by a structural priming task.
- Analyzed age-related performance variations and correlations between cognitive scores and linguistic effects.
Main Results:
- Higher age correlated with lower explicit cognitive performance, consistent with prior research.
- Subtle, but reliable, age-related declines were observed in specific aspects of implicit memory.
- Linguistic performance showed no age-related changes and was independent of memory scores.
Conclusions:
- Aging leads to fine-grained changes in certain implicit memory functions.
- Language processing appears unaffected by age, suggesting intact abilities or effective compensation.
- Cognitive and linguistic performance in older adults are not directly linked in this study.
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