Pichora-Fuller M Kathleen, Dupuis Kate, Smith Sherri L
a Department of Psychology , University of Toronto , Toronto , Ontario , Canada.
b Toronto Rehabilitation Institute , Toronto , Ontario , Canada.
Exp Aging Res. 2016;42(1):14-30. doi: 10.1080/0361073X.2016.1108734.
BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Emotional content can enhance memory for visual stimuli, and older adults often perform better if stimuli portray positive emotion. Vocal emotion can enhance the accuracy of word repetition in noise when vocal prosody portrays attention-capturing emotions such as fear and pleasant surprise. In the present study, the authors examined the effect of vocal emotion on the accuracy of repetition and recall in younger and older adults when words are presented in quiet or in a background of competing babble.
Younger and older adults (Mage = 20 and 72 years, respectively) participated. Lists of 100 items (carrier phrase plus target word) were presented in recall sets of increasing size. Word repetition accuracy was tested after each item and recall after each trial in each set size. In Experiment 1, one list spoken in a neutral voice and another with emotion (fear, pleasant surprise, sad, neutral) were presented in quiet (n = 24 per group). In Experiment 2, participants (n = 12 per group) were presented the emotional list in noise.
In quiet, word repetition accuracy was near perfect for both groups and did not vary systematically with set size for the list spoken in a neutral voice; however, for the emotional list, repetition was less accurate, especially for the older group. Recall in quiet was higher for younger than older adults; collapsed over groups, recall was higher for the neutral than for the emotional list and it decreased with increasing set size. In noise, emotion-specific effects emerged; word repetition for the older group and word recall for both groups (more for younger than older) was best for fear or pleasant surprise and worst for sad.
In quiet, vocal emotion reduced the word repetition accuracy of the older group and recall accuracy for both groups. In noise, there were emotion-specific effects on the repetition accuracy of older adults and the recall accuracy of both groups. Both groups, but especially the younger group, performed better for items portraying fear or pleasant surprise and worse for items portraying sadness or neutral emotion. The emotion-specific effects on word repetition cascade to recall, especially in older listeners.
背景/研究背景：情感内容能够增强对视觉刺激的记忆，并且如果刺激呈现出积极情绪，老年人的表现通常会更好。当语音韵律描绘出诸如恐惧和惊喜等吸引注意力的情绪时，声音情感能够提高在噪声环境中单词重复的准确性。在本研究中，作者考察了在安静环境或竞争性杂音背景下呈现单词时，声音情感对年轻人和老年人重复及回忆准确性的影响。
招募了年轻人和老年人（平均年龄分别为20岁和72岁）参与研究。以逐渐增加的组块大小呈现包含100个项目（载体短语加目标单词）的列表。在每组大小的每个项目之后测试单词重复准确性，在每组大小的每次试验之后测试回忆。在实验1中，在安静环境下呈现一个用中性声音说出的列表和另一个带有情感（恐惧、惊喜、悲伤、中性）的列表（每组n = 24）。在实验2中，在噪声环境下向参与者呈现情感列表（每组n = 12）。
在安静环境中，两组的单词重复准确性都接近完美，并且对于用中性声音说出的列表，其准确性不会随组块大小而系统变化；然而，对于情感列表，重复准确性较低，尤其是老年组。在安静环境中，年轻人的回忆高于老年人；综合各年龄组来看，中性列表的回忆高于情感列表，并且回忆随着组块大小的增加而降低。在噪声环境中，出现了特定情感效应；老年组的单词重复以及两组的单词回忆（年轻人比老年人更明显）在恐惧或惊喜时最佳，在悲伤时最差。
在安静环境中，声音情感降低了老年组的单词重复准确性以及两组的回忆准确性。在噪声环境中，对老年人的重复准确性和两组的回忆准确性存在特定情感效应。两组，尤其是年轻组，对于描绘恐惧或惊喜的项目表现更好，而对于描绘悲伤或中性情感的项目表现更差。对单词重复的特定情感效应会延伸到回忆，尤其是在老年听众中。
