Plaie Thierry, Isingrini Michel
Département de Psychologie, Université F Rabelais de Tours, France.
Can J Exp Psychol. 2003 Dec;57(4):304-10.
The purpose of this study was to measure the degree to which the deterioration of mental image generation processes observed in elderly subjects by Dror and Kosslyn (1994) depends on the nature of the processing (referential vs. representational) involved in performing the task at hand. In keeping with the results of research showing that processing resources diminish as normal aging occurs (Craik & Bird, 1982; Rabinowitz, Craik & Ackerman, 1982), we suggest that generation ability based on referential processing is affected to a greater extent in older adults than is the generation ability involving representational processing. Fifteen young adults and 15 elderly persons performed a generation task modeled on that used by Dror and Kosslyn (1994). Observations were based on two contrasting conditions. In the first instance, subjects were required to generate an image representation of numbers when instructed to do so by a graphic stimulus, e.g., "31" (representational generation). In the second case, generation was produced on the basis of a verbal stimulus, e.g., "thirteen" (referential generation). Results (response time and number of accurate answers) show that, compared to young adults, elderly adults have a diminished ability to generate images based on words rather than numbers and do so at a slower pace. Our results suggest, therefore, that the performance of the first type of generation is cognitively more demanding for elderly subjects than that which is founded on figurative stimuli. The deterioration of mental image generation processes observed in elderly subjects by Dror and Kosslyn (1994) is therefore dependent on the nature of processing (referential vs. In conclusion we suggest two complementary assumptions to explain the observed dissociation. The differential effect of age may be the result of a deficienness cy linked to the nature of processing (control vs. automatic). Our second assumption is that, more specifically, referential generation involves more processing resources than does representational generation because it requires an additional transcoding operation. In this instance, the differential effect of aging that we observed would be closely linked to the number of cognitive operations involved in mental image generation.
本研究的目的是测量德罗尔和科斯林（1994年）观察到的老年受试者心理意象生成过程的恶化程度，该恶化程度取决于执行手头任务所涉及的加工性质（指称性加工与表征性加工）。鉴于研究结果表明，随着正常衰老的发生，加工资源会减少（克雷克和伯德，1982年；拉比诺维茨、克雷克和阿克曼，1982年），我们认为，与涉及表征性加工的生成能力相比，基于指称性加工的生成能力在老年人中受到的影响更大。15名年轻人和15名老年人执行了一项以德罗尔和科斯林（1994年）所使用的任务为模型的生成任务。观察基于两种对比条件。首先，当受到图形刺激（如“31”）指示时，受试者被要求生成数字的意象表征（表征性生成）。其次，生成是基于言语刺激（如“十三”）产生的（指称性生成）。结果（反应时间和正确答案数量）表明，与年轻人相比，老年人基于单词而非数字生成意象的能力有所下降，且速度较慢。因此，我们的结果表明，对于老年受试者而言，第一种类型的生成在认知上比基于形象刺激的生成要求更高。因此，德罗尔和科斯林（1994年）观察到的老年受试者心理意象生成过程的恶化取决于加工性质（指称性与……）。总之，我们提出两个互补的假设来解释观察到的分离现象。年龄的差异效应可能是与加工性质（控制性与自动性）相关的缺陷循环的结果。我们的第二个假设是，更具体地说，指称性生成比表征性生成涉及更多的加工资源，因为它需要额外的转码操作。在这种情况下，我们观察到的衰老差异效应将与心理意象生成中涉及的认知操作数量密切相关。
