Geraci Lisa, Hamilton Maryellen, Guillory Jimmeka J
a Department of Psychology , Texas A&M University , College Station , Texas , USA.
b Department of Psychology , Saint Peter's University , Jersey City , New Jersey , USA.
Exp Aging Res. 2015;41(5):496-509. doi: 10.1080/0361073X.2015.1085745.
BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: This study examined the effect of age and response competition on implicit memory performance.
Younger and older adults studied high- and low-frequency words and took a word stem completion test that could be completed with multiple solutions. To manipulate response competition, the test list consisted of word stems that could be completed with target low-frequency words, as well as multiple other solutions with higher frequencies than the target (the high response competition condition) and word stems that could be completed with target high-frequency words, as well as multiple other solutions with lower frequencies than the target (the low response competition condition).
Relative to younger adults, older adults showed reduced levels of priming only under conditions of high response competition (low-frequency targets with high-frequency competitors).
In support of a response competition mechanism, older adults were more likely to complete stems with nonstudied high-frequency solutions than were younger adults. Results demonstrate that older adults have reduced priming compared with younger adults under some conditions of high response competition.
背景/研究背景：本研究考察了年龄和反应竞争对内隐记忆表现的影响。
年轻和年长成年人学习高频和低频单词，并进行词干补全测试，该测试可以用多种答案完成。为了操纵反应竞争，测试列表包括可以用目标低频单词完成的词干，以及比目标频率更高的多个其他答案（高反应竞争条件），和可以用目标高频单词完成的词干，以及比目标频率更低的多个其他答案（低反应竞争条件）。
相对于年轻成年人，年长成年人仅在高反应竞争条件下（低频目标与高频竞争者）表现出启动水平降低。
为支持反应竞争机制，年长成年人比年轻成年人更有可能用未学习的高频答案完成词干。结果表明，在某些高反应竞争条件下，年长成年人与年轻成年人相比启动减少。
