title: Further evidence that negative priming in the Stroop color-word task is equivalent in older and younger adults.
abstract: In 2 experiments, possible adult age differences in negative priming were explored using several variants of the Stroop color-word task. Negative priming was at least as high in the older adults as in the younger adults in every variant. Negative priming varied as a function of condition, but the age equivalence was unaffected. This result was true even when the possibility of general slowing was taken into account. Across conditions, interference and negative priming were positively correlated. The results do not permit a clear choice between the 2 major theoretical explanations of negative priming, inhibition and memory retrieval; they do show that negative priming can be systematically manipulated within an experimental paradigm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Scripps College, Claremont, California 91711, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hartley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011930:Reaction Time; D014705:Verbal Behavior