Conceptual but not perceptual encoding leads to age differences in priming.

Abstract

The specific conditions in which age differences in priming emerge remain to be clarified. Three experiments systematically investigated how cognitive processing requirements moderate age differences in priming. Experiment 1 manipulated perceptual/conceptual encoding prior to a continuous identification priming task, and Experiments 2A and 2B manipulated perceptual/conceptual encoding prior to identification (perceptual) and category verification (conceptual) priming tasks. Recognition was also captured to allow comparison of effects on explicit and implicit memory. A further aim was to provide the first direct comparison of online versus laboratory experiments concerned with priming in aging, necessary to understand the feasibility and robustness of online methods, which are increasing in popularity. Experiments 1 (35 young participants, M_age = 20.51 years; 35 older participants, M_age = 70.49 years) and 2A (48 young participants, M_age = 22.65 years; 48 older participants, M_age = 69.19 years) were conducted online, and Experiment 2B (48 young participants, M_age = 22.17 years; 48 older participants, M_age = 76.29 years) was conducted in the laboratory. In all experiments, there was an age difference in perceptual identification priming favouring young adults when encoding was conceptual, but no age difference following perceptual encoding. There was no priming on the category verification task. Priming effects in Experiment 1 were mirrored in the recognition data-recognition was greater in young than older adults following conceptual encoding. There was a reliable age difference in recognition in Experiment 2B, but not Experiment 2A, and no interaction with processing. Findings suggests that age differences in priming emerge as a function of the way stimuli are processed during encoding.