Exploring the Identification-Production Hypothesis of Repetition Priming in Young and Older Adults.

The identification-production hypothesis of age-related differences in repetition priming predicts reduced priming in older adults on indirect memory measures that require stimulus production (production priming) together with age constancy on indirect measures that require stimulus identification, verification, or classification processes (identification priming). Although some evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, comparisons of identification and production priming in young and older adults often confound stimulus, subject, and dependent measure factors across tasks. Consequently, repetition priming has yet to be assessed in healthy young and healthy older adults using identification and production tasks that control for these factors. The identification-production hypothesis was tested using verb generation as a measure of production priming (Experiments 1-3) and semantic classification (Experiment 1) or semantic verification (Experiments 2 and 3) as the measure of identification priming. Contrary to the identification-production hypothesis, no age-related diminutions in identification or production forms of priming were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Longitudinal Study of Implicit and Explicit Memory in Old Persons.

Decline in explicit memory with advancing age is a common finding, but it is unclear whether implicit memory (repetition priming) declines or remains stable. Meta-analyses of studies that examined differences between extreme groups (young-old), typically at a single point in time and on a single test, suggest that a mild reduction in priming occurs with advancing age. The authors examined explicit memory and priming, on multiple tests over 4 annual data-collection waves, in a large group of older persons without dementia at baseline. Explicit memory declined significantly, but priming remained stable. Findings indicate that explicit memory and priming are dissociable on the basis of age-related change and that mildly reduced priming is not an inevitable consequence of growing older. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Divided Attention in Younger and Older Adults: Effects of Strategy and Relatedness on Memory Performance and Secondary Task Costs.

Divided attention at encoding leads to a significant decline in memory performance, whereas divided attention during retrieval has relatively little effect; nevertheless, retrieval carries significant secondary task costs, especially for older adults. The authors further investigated the effects of divided attention in younger and older adults by using a cued-recall task and by measuring retrieval accuracy, retrieval latency, and the temporal distribution of attentional costs at encoding and retrieval. An age-related memory deficit was reduced by pair relatedness, whereas strategy instructions benefited both age groups equally. Attentional costs were greater for retrieval than for encoding, especially for older adults. These findings are interpreted in light of notions of an age-related associative deficit (M. Naveh-Benjamin, 2000) and age-related differences in the use of self-initiated activities and environmental support (F. I. M. Craik, 1983, 1986). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Binding and Inhibition in Working Memory: Individual and Age Differences in Short-Term Recognition.

Two studies investigated the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC), adult age, and the resolution of conflict between familiarity and recollection in short-term recognition tasks. Experiment 1 showed a specific deficit of young adults with low WMC in rejecting intrusion probes (i.e., highly familiar probes) in a modified Sternberg task, which was similar to the deficit found in old adults in a parallel experiment (K. Oberauer, 2001). Experiment 2 generalized these results to 3 recognition paradigms (modified Sternberg, local recognition, and n back tasks). Old adults showed disproportional performance deficits on intrusion probes only in terms of reaction times, whereas young adults with low WMC showed them only in terms of errors. The generality of the effect across paradigms is more compatible with a deficit in content-context bindings subserving recollection than with a deficit in inhibition of irrelevant information in working memory. Structural equation models showed that WMC is related to the efficiency of recollection but not of familiarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working Memory Capacity, Indirect Semantic Priming, and Stroop Interference: Pattern of Interindividual Prefrontal Performance Differences in Healthy Volunteers.

Using neuropsychological models of prefrontal function, the authors investigated the pattern of interindividual prefrontal performance differences in healthy volunteers. Using a correlation and an extreme group approach, they compared verbal and visuospatial working memory capacity with performance on the Stroop interference task as a measure of executive control and on the direct and indirect semantic priming tasks as a measure of semantic access. Subjects with low visuospatial working memory capacity exhibited increased Stroop interference Subjects with low verbal memory capacity showed increased priming and Stroop interference only. The study shows that prefrontal functioning varies interindividually, forming patterns of performance differences. These findings suggest that working memory, executive control, and semantic retrieval are functionally related to some extent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Impact of Job Complexity and Performance Measurement on the Temporal Consistency, Stability, and Test-Retest Reliability of Employee Job Performance Ratings.

Although research has shown that individual job performance changes over time, the extent of such changes is unknown. In this article, the authors define and distinguish between the concepts of temporal consistency, stability, and test-retest reliability when considering individual job performance ratings over time. Furthermore, the authors examine measurement type (i.e., subjective and objective measures) and job complexity in relation to temporal consistency, stability, and test-retest reliability. On the basis of meta-analytic results, the authors found that the test-retest reliability of these ratings ranged from .83 for subjective measures in low-complexity jobs to .50 for objective measures in high-complexity jobs. The stability of these ratings over a 1-year time lag ranged from .85 to .67. The analyses also reveal that correlations between performance measures decreased as the time interval between performance measurements increased, but the estimates approached values greater than zero. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of Emotion on Memory for Temporal Information.

Contextual information, such as color and spatial location, has been found to be better remembered for emotional than for neutral items. The current study examined whether the influence of emotion extends to memory for another fundamental feature of episodic memory: temporal information. Results from a list-discrimination paradigm showed that (a) item memory was enhanced for both negative and positive pictures compared with neutral ones and was better for negative than for positive pictures and (b) temporal information was better remembered for negative than for positive and neutral pictures, whereas positive and neutral pictures did not differ from each other. These findings are discussed in relation to the processes involved in memory for temporal information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dual-Process Models of Associative Recognition in Young and Older Adults: Evidence From Receiver Operating Characteristics.

In 3 experiments, young and older adults studied lists of unrelated word pairs and were given confidence-rated item and associative recognition tests. Several different models of recognition were fit to the confidence-rating data using techniques described by S. Macho (2002, 2004). Concordant with previous findings, item recognition data were best fit by an unequal-variance signal detection theory model for both young and older adults. For both age groups, associative recognition performance was best explained by models incorporating both recollection and familiarity components. Examination of parameter estimates supported the conclusion that recollection is reduced in old age, but inferences about age differences in familiarity were highly model dependent. Implications for dual-process models of memory in old age are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Signal Detection Theory Analyses of Semantic Priming in Word Recognition.

Word recognition, semantic priming, and cognitive impenetrability research have used signal detection theory (SDT) measures to separate perceptual and postperceptual processes. In the D. Norris (1986) checking model and model simulation (D. Norris, 1995), priming alters only postperceptual word decision criteria: Stimulus-related priming reduces uncertainty, increasing sensitivity; stimulus-unrelated priming increases false alarms more than hits, reducing sensitivity. This work is cited as strong evidence that criterion changes can alter perceptual sensitivity and that SDT is inappropriate for investigating complex cognitive processes. The authors' current SDT ideal observer analysis of the model demonstrates that related priming does not directly alter sensitivity and that unrelated priming increases only false-alarm rate, reducing sensitivity. This analysis provides new perspectives on SDT concepts of complex decision processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inter- and Intraindividual Variability in Recognition Memory: Effects of Aging and Estrogen Use.

Traditionally, studies of cognitive aging have focused on comparing the average performance of younger and older adults, whereas variability around the mean has been attributed to task-irrelevant noise. The present study examined the hypothesis that variability in memory performance increases with age and that estrogen helps temper age-related increases in variability. Postmenopausal estrogen users, estrogen and progestin (est + prog) users, and nonusers, as well as younger women, completed 16 blocks of an item-source memory task. Older women showed greater variability than younger women on measures of dispersion and consistency. Estrogen users, but not est + prog users, performed more consistently than nonusers. Overall, age-related increases in variability differed with the type of variability measured, and estrogen use, but not est + prog use, appeared to reduce age-related increases in at least 1 form of variability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonword Repetition Priming in Lexical Decision Reverses as a Function of Study Task and Speed Stress.

The authors argue that nonword repetition priming in lexical decision is the net result of 2 opposing processes. First, repeating nonwords in the lexical decision task results in the storage of a memory trace containing the interpretation that the letter string is a nonword; retrieval of this trace leads to an increase in performance for repeated nonwords. Second, nonword repetition results in increased familiarity, making the nonword more "wordlike," leading to a decrease in performance. Consistent with this dual-process account, Experiment 1 showed a facilitatory effect for nonwords studied in a lexical decision task but an inhibitory effect for nonwords studied in a letter-height task. Experiment 2 showed inhibitory nonword repetition priming for participants tested under speed-stress instructions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory and Goal Setting: The Response of Older and Younger Adults to Positive and Objective Feedback.

Earlier research suggested that goal setting for memory does not have the same advantages for older adults as for younger adults. Using ideal goal-setting conditions with individualized goals, the authors compared goals plus positive feedback, goals plus objective feedback, and control. Performance increased over trials and was higher for both goal conditions than for control. The positive feedback condition showed the highest goal commitment and motivation. Older adults showed strong performance gains and more motivation and goal commitment than the young. The results showed that older adults can benefit from goal setting under optimal learning and feedback conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loss of Distinctive Features and a Broader Pattern of Priming in Alzheimer's Disease.

The results of 2 experiments support the contention that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show a relative loss of the semantic features that distinguish concepts from one another and that the representations of pairs of concepts consequently share a larger proportion of their associated features in AD than in normal aging (A. Martin, 1992). In Experiment 1, AD patients listed fewer features for a set of concepts than did healthy older adults and were more deficient at listing features if the features were distinctive to particular concepts than if they were shared by multiple concepts. In Experiment 2, AD patients showed online priming at levels of relatedness at which healthy older adults did not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specific- and Partial-Source Memory: Effects of Aging.

Normal aging can be associated with impairments in source memory (recollecting an event's context). This study examined the effects of aging on specific-source memory (e.g., remembering which of 4 people spoke a word) and partial-source memory (e.g., remembering the gender of the person who spoke the word). When young and older adults were matched in terms of old-new recognition, age-related deficits were observed on both specific- and partial-source recollection. When the groups were matched on partial-source performance, no disproportionate specific-source impairment was seen. The results suggest that aging does not differentially affect specific- versus partial-source memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing Theories of Recognition Memory by Predicting Performance Across Paradigms.

Signal-detection theory (SDT) accounts of recognition judgments depend on the assumption that recognition decisions result from a single familiarity-based process. However, fits of a hybrid SDT model, called dual-process theory (DPT), have provided evidence for the existence of a second, recollection-based process. In 2 experiments, the authors tested predictions of DPT and SDT by comparing the invariance of parameter estimates between yes/no (Y/N) and 2-altemative forced-choice (2AFC) testing paradigms. Both experiments showed DPT recollection estimates in Y/N to be poorly correlated with recollection estimates in 2AFC. In Experiment 2, SDT predictions explained more variance than DPT predictions. The authors evaluate and discuss the extent to which each model possesses theoretical validity versus computational flexibility in curve fitting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and Repetition Effects: Separate Specific and Nonspecific Influences.

The research reported in this article focuses on processes that contribute to the repetition effect in 2-alternative forced-choice tasks and on how these processes change with age. An analytical approach is presented that allows researchers to discriminate between 2 components of performance. The results of Experiment 1 show that differences in the relative contributions of these 2 processes can produce differences in repetition effects between younger and older adults. Furthermore, as in the negative priming domain, increasing the contribution of 1 of these 2 components can eliminate this age difference. Together, the results argue against the practice of attributing age differences in repetition effects to deficits in any single cognitive process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability, Growth, and Decline in Adult Life Span Development of Declarative Memory: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data From a Population-Based Study.

Five-year changes in episodic and semantic memory were examined in a sample of 829 participants (35-80 years). A cohort-matched sample (N=967) was assessed to control for practice effects. For episodic memory, cross-sectional analyses indicated gradual age-related decrements, whereas the longitudinal data revealed no decrements before age 60, even when practice effects were adjusted for. Longitudinally, semantic memory showed minor increments until age 55, with smaller decrements in old age as compared with episodic memory. Cohort differences in educational attainment appear to account for the discrepancies between cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Collectively, the results show that age trajectories for episodic and semantic memory differ and underscore the need to control for cohort and retest effects in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Priming of familiar and unfamiliar visual objects over delays in young and older adults.

Although priming of familiar stimuli is usually age invariant, little is known about how aging affects priming of preexperimentally unfamiliar stimuli. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of aging and encoding-to-test delays (0 min, 20 min, 90 min, and 1 week) on priming of unfamiliar objects in block-based priming paradigms. During the encoding phase, participants viewed pictures of novel objects (Experiments 1 and 2) or novel and familiar objects (Experiment 3) and judged their left–right orientation. In the test block, priming was measured using the possible–impossible object-decision test (Experiment 1), symmetric–asymmetric object-decision test (Experiment 2), and real–nonreal object-decision test (Experiment 3). In Experiments 1 and 2, young adults showed priming for unfamiliar objects at all delays, whereas older adults whose baseline task performance was similar to that of young adults did not show any priming. Experiment 3 found no effects of age or delay on priming of familiar objects; however, priming of unfamiliar objects was only observed in the young participants. This suggests that when older adults cannot rely on preexisting memory representations, age-related deficits in priming can emerge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in temporal and item memory.

Three experiments tested whether the relationship between age differences in temporal and item memory depends on the degree to which the item memory measure relies on memory for context. The authors predicted a stronger relationship of temporal memory to free recall than to recognition memory. Results showed that age differences in temporal memory could be eliminated after controlling for free recall but not recognition memory performance. Under some conditions recognition memory accounted for a significant portion of age-related variance in temporal memory. These results challenge past research that has interpreted age differences in temporal and item memory as independent and suggest that a generalized decline in context memory may underlie reduced performance in older adults on all types of memory tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explicit and Implicit Stereotype Activation Effects on Memory: Do Age and Awareness Moderate the Impact of Priming?

Two studies examined the effects of implicit and explicit priming of aging stereotypes. Implicit primes had a significant effect on older adults' memory, with positive primes associated with greater recall than negative primes. With explicit primes, older adults were able to counteract the impact of negative stereotypes when the cues were relatively subtle, but blatant stereotype primes suppressed performance regardless of prime type. No priming effects under either presentation condition were obtained for younger adults, indicating that the observed implicit effects are specific to those for whom the stereotype is self-relevant. Findings emphasize the importance of social-situational factors in determining older adults' memory performance and contribute to the delineation of situations under which stereotypes are most influential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)