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Published on: June 25, 2019
Age-linked declines in retrieving orthographic knowledge: empirical, practical, and theoretical implications
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1563, USA. mackay@psych.ucla.edu
Psychology and Aging
|January 12, 1999
Summary
Aging impairs the ability to retrieve orthographic knowledge, leading to more spelling errors, particularly with high-frequency words. Older adults recognized this decline in their spelling abilities.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
Background:
- Orthographic knowledge retrieval is crucial for spelling.
- Aging is associated with various cognitive declines, but its specific impact on orthographic retrieval is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the Transmission Deficit hypothesis regarding age-related changes in orthographic knowledge retrieval.
- To investigate how aging affects the accuracy of spelling difficult words.
Main Methods:
- Young, older, and very old adults participated in a spelling task involving high and low-frequency words.
- Participants wrote words presented via slow, clear audio recordings.
- Perceptual errors and vocabulary differences were statistically controlled.
Main Results:
- Spelling errors increased significantly with age.
- This age-related increase in misspellings was more pronounced for high-frequency words.
- Older adults demonstrated awareness of their declining spelling proficiency.
Conclusions:
- The findings support the Transmission Deficit hypothesis for orthographic knowledge retrieval.
- An age-linked decline in retrieving orthographic information is suggested, mirroring declines in spoken word retrieval.
- This research has implications for understanding normal aging processes.
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