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.
Marczinski
Cecile A
CA
Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. cecile.marczinski@sjhc.london.on.ca
Milliken
Bruce
B
Nelson
Sarah
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis