title: A Bruner-Potter effect in audition? Spoken word recognition in adult aging.
abstract: Bruner and Potter (1964) demonstrated the surprising finding that incrementally increasing the clarity of images until they were correctly recognized (ascending presentation) was less effective for recognition than presenting images in a single presentation at that same clarity level. This has been attributed to interference from incorrect perceptual hypotheses formed on the initial presentations under ascending conditions. We demonstrate an analogous effect for spoken word recognition in older adults, with the size of the effect predicted by working memory span. This effect did not appear for young adults, whose group spans exceeded that of the older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brandeis University.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lash
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brandeis University.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wingfield
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008960:Models, Psychological; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult