Ober Beth A, Shenaut Gregory K
Human Development Unit, Department of Human Ecology, University of California-Davis.
Neuropsychology. 2014 Nov;28(6):973-83. doi: 10.1037/neu0000112. Epub 2014 Jul 7.
This study examines the magnitude and direction of nonword and word lexical decision repetition priming effects in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal aging, focusing specifically on the negative priming effect sometimes observed with repeated nonwords.
Probable AD patients (30), elderly normal controls (34), and young normal controls (49) participated in a repetition priming experiment using low-frequency words and word-like nonwords with a letter-level orthographic orienting task at study followed by a lexical decision test phase.
Although participants' reaction times (RTs) were longer in AD compared with elderly normal, and elderly normal compared with young normal, the repetition priming effect and the degree to which the repetition priming effect was reversed for nonwords compared to words was unaffected by AD or normal aging.
AD patients, like young and elderly normal participants, are able to modify (in the case of words) and create (in the case of nonwords) long-term memory traces for lexical stimuli, based on a single orthographic processing trial. The nonword repetition results are discussed from the perspective of new vocabulary learning commencing with a provisional lexical memory trace created after orthographic encoding of a novel word-like letter string.
本研究考察了阿尔茨海默病（AD）和正常衰老过程中，非词和单词词汇判断重复启动效应的大小和方向，特别关注有时在重复非词时观察到的负启动效应。
可能患有AD的患者（30名）、老年正常对照者（34名）和年轻正常对照者（49名）参与了一项重复启动实验，该实验使用低频单词和类似单词的非词，并在学习阶段进行字母水平的正字法定向任务，随后是词汇判断测试阶段。
尽管与老年正常对照者相比，AD患者的反应时间（RTs）更长，且与年轻正常对照者相比，老年正常对照者的反应时间也更长，但重复启动效应以及与单词相比非词的重复启动效应反转程度不受AD或正常衰老的影响。
与年轻和老年正常参与者一样，AD患者能够基于单次正字法加工试验，为词汇刺激修改（对于单词而言）和创建（对于非词而言）长期记忆痕迹。从新词汇学习的角度讨论了非词重复结果，新词汇学习始于对新颖的类似单词的字母串进行正字法编码后创建的临时词汇记忆痕迹。
