title: Category-Specific Visual Recognition and Aging from the PACE Theory Perspective: Evidence for a Presemantic Deficit in Aging Object Recognition.
abstract: Background/Study Context: The objective of this study was to investigate the object recognition deficit in aging. Age-related declines were examined from the presemantic account of category effects (PACE) theory perspective (Gerlach, 2009, Cognition, 111, 281-301). This view assumes that the structural similarity/dissimilarity inherent in living and nonliving objects, respectively, can account for a wide range of category-specific effects.
  
  
  
  In two experiments on object recognition, young (36 participants, 18-27 years) and older (36 participants, 53-69 years) adult participants' performances were compared.
  
  
  
  The young adults' results corroborate the PACE theory expectations. The results of the older adults showed an impairment in recognition of structurally similar objects irrespective of semantic category.
  
  
  
  The two sets of results suggest that a deficit in the selection stage of the PACE theory (visual long-term memory matching) could be responsible for these impairments. Indeed, the older group showed a deficit when this stage was most relevant. This article emphasize on the critical need for taking into account structural component of the stimuli and type of tasks in further studies.
authors.affiliation: a Laboratoire de psychologie EA4139 , Université Victor Segalen-Bordeaux 2 , Bordeaux , France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bordaberry
authors.affiliation: b Institute for Psychology , University of Southern Denmark , Odense , Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gerlach
authors.affiliation: a Laboratoire de psychologie EA4139 , Université Victor Segalen-Bordeaux 2 , Bordeaux , France.
authors.forename: Quentin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lenoble
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult