Word Retrieval After the 80s: Evidence From Specific and Multiple Words Naming Tasks

Older adults show a progressive cognitive decline, and although language processing appears to resist advancing age, studies in word retrieval report that elders important difficulties. Previous research reports such failures increase from age 70 years, which suggests during the fourth would exhibit even stronger constraints. At same time, extant evidence only of specific might decline advanced aging, not recovery multiple pieces associated with given semantic category. However, those did explicitly assess these phenomena group older their thus cannot be considered conclusive regards this particular group. In present study, we examined three distinctive groups (60–69, 70–79, 80+ years) two production tasks: picture naming task, lexical availability task. We compared fourth-age against other third-age reaction time (RT) accuracy as well as, on index (LAI) total words retrieved Fourth-age exhibited longer RT yet high level accuracy. They also showed reduced number words, LAI, relative control groups. discuss our results context fluid intelligence, information transmission deficits hypothesis.