The Effects of Age, Educational Level, and Stimulus Length

A study was conducted on 136, nonna\, French speaking, independent adults in good health. Subjects were between 25 and 85 years of age, had a minimum of 4 years of education, and were divided into nine groups based on education and age. They were administered a naming task comprised of 40 monosyllabic, 40 bisyllabic, and 40 polysyllabic words. An analysis of variance on correct responses revealed significant main effects for age, educational level, and stimulus length (number of syllables). Significant interactions also were found between age groups and stimulus length and between educational level and stimulus length. The results are discussed in tenns of a decline in the retrieval of phonological infonnation from the lexicon associated with aging. Resume Une etude a ete menee aupres de 136 adultes autonomes, normaux, francophones, en bonne sante. Les sujets etaient ages de 25 a 85 ans et comptaient au moins 4 annees de scolarite. lis ont eM divises en neuf groupes fondes sur la scolarite et rage. Chacun a rer;u une tache de denomination comportant 40 mots monosyllabiques. 40 dissyllabiques et 40 polysyllabiques. Une analyse des differences dans le taux de reponse a revele que l'age, le niveau de scolarite et la longueur du stimulus (nombre de syllables) ont des effets importants sur l'exactitude des reponses. D'importantes interactions ont egalement eM constates entre les groupes d'age et la /ongueur du stimulus ainsi qU'entre le niveau de scolariM et la longueur du stimulus. Les resultats ont he examines relativement a la diminution au niveau de l'acces lexical associee au vieillissement.