Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:11:57.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Age-related Changes in Recognition and Response Criterion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Aurora G. Suengas ,
Trinidad Ruiz Gallego-Largo  and
Teresa Simón
Aurora G. Suengas
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Trinidad Ruiz Gallego-Largo*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
Teresa Simón
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Trinidad Ruiz Gallego-Largo. Departamento de Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Complutense. Campus de Somosaguas. 28223 Madrid. (Spain). Email: truiz@psi.ucm.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recognition performance does not usually change along the lifespan, but the response criterion usually does, and in general, it changes from being conservative during youth to being liberal, in old age. The focus of the present study is to analyze the changes that take place, both in discrimination and response criterion, as a result of aging in two recognition tasks: one with neutral images, and the other with faces showing positive and negative emotional expressions. Two groups of participants performed both tasks: young (N = 21; age range, 17-33 years), older (N = 21; age range, 65-91 years). The analyses of several discrimination parameters (d′ and probability of recognition) and the response criterion yielded significant age differences. Thus, results indicated that the ability to discriminate of older participants was better than that of younger participants when having to recognize neutral images, and faces with negative emotional expressions. The response criterion of younger participants was always conservative, whereas older participants only showed liberal criteria in front of faces with emotional expressions. In relation to the neutral images, the response criterion of older participants was optimum, because it led to more hits, without increasing the false alarms. The results are partially explained by the tasks differential difficulty, and are discussed within the frame of Simulation theory.

El rendimiento en pruebas de reconocimiento no suele variar a lo largo de la vida, pero sí lo hace el criterio de respuesta empleado que, en general, pasa de ser conservador, en la juventud, a ser liberal, al envejecer. El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar los cambios que se producen en la discriminación y el criterio de respuesta en función de la edad en dos pruebas de reconocimiento: una frente a imágenes sin carga emocional y otra frente a caras con expresiones faciales positivas y negativas. Dos grupos de participantes realizaron ambas pruebas: joven (N = 21; rango de edad de 17-33 años), mayor (N = 21; rango de edad de 65-91 años). El análisis de diferentes medidas de discriminación (d' y probabilidad de reconocimiento) y del criterio de respuesta de los participantes en las distintas tareas experimentales arrojó diferencias significativas en función de la edad. Así, los resultados indicaron que la habilidad para discriminar de las personas de más edad supera a la de los jóvenes frente a imágenes neutras y caras con expresiones faciales negativas. En lo que respecta al criterio de respuesta, el de los jóvenes siempre fue conservador, en tanto que el de los mayores fue óptimo frente a imágenes neutras (más aciertos sin incremento de falsas alarmas) y liberal frente a las caras con expresiones faciales emocionales. Los resultados se explican en parte por la dificultad diferencial de las pruebas y se interpretan dentro del marco de la teoría de la simulación.

Keywords

age differencesrecognitionresponse criterionface recognitionfacial expression valenceenvejecimientoreconocimientocriterio de respuestareconocimiento de carasvalencia de la expresión facial
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , November 2010 , pp. 557 - 571
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anastasi, J. S., & Rhodes, M. (2006). Evidence for an own age bias in face recognition. North American Journal of Psychology, 8, 237–252.Google Scholar
Bishara, A. J., & Jacoby, L. (2008). Aging, spaced retrieval, and inflexible memory performance. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15, 52–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calder, A. J., Keane, J., Manly, T., Sprengelmeyer, R., Scott, S., Nimmo-Smith, I. et al. , (2003). Facial expression recognition across the adult life span. Neuropsychologia, 41, 195–202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cavanaugh, J. C. (1989). The importance of awareness in memory aging. In Poon, L., Rubin, D., & Wilson, B. (Eds.), Everyday cognition in adulthood and late life (pp. 416–436). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charles, S. T. (2005). Viewing injustice: Greater emotion heterogeneity with age. Psychology and Aging, 20, 159–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charles, S. T., Mather, M., & Carstensen, L. (2003). Aging and emotional memory: The forgettable nature of negative images for older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 310–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comblain, C., D'Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2005). Phenomenal characteristics of autobiographical memories for emotional and neutral events in older and younger adults. Experimental Aging Research, 31, 173–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comblain, C., D'Argembeau, A., Van der Linden, M., & Aldenhoff, L. (2004). The effect of ageing on the recollection of emotional and neutral pictures. Memory, 12, 673–684.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D'Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2004). Identity but not expression memory for unfamiliar faces is affected by ageing. Memory, 12, 644–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, H. P., Trussell, L., & Klebe, K. (2001). A ten-year longitudinal examination of repetition priming, incidental recall, free recall, and recognition in young and elderly. Brain and Cognition, 46, 99–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Denburg, N. L., Buchanan, T., Tranel, D., & Adolphs, R. (2003). Evidence for preserved emotional memory in normal older persons. Emotion, 3, 239–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebner, N. C. (2008). Age of face matters: Age-group differences in ratings of young and old faces. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 130–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebner, N. C., & Johnson, M. K. (2009). Young and older emotional faces: Are there age-group differences in expression identification and memory? Emotion, 9, 329–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firestone, A., Turk-Browne, N., & Ryan, J. (2007). Age-related deficits in face recognition are related to underlying changes in scanning behavior. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 14, 594–607.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S., McHugh, P., & Fanjiang, G. (2001). MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination. Lutz, FL: PAR, Psychologycal Assessment Resourses, Inc.Google Scholar
Goldman, A. I., & Sripada, C. (2005). Simulationist models of face-based emotion recognition. Cognition, 94, 193–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grady, C. L., Hongwanishkul, D., Keightley, M., Lee, W., & Hasher, L. (2007). The effect of age on memory for emotional faces. Neuropsychology, 21, 371–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grühn, D., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. (2005). No aging bias favoring for positive material: Evidence from a heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm using emotionally toned words. Psychology and Aging, 20, 579–588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hess, T. M. (2005). Memory and aging in context. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 383–406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howard, M. W., Bessette-Symons, B., Zhang, Y., & Hoyer, W. (2006). Aging selectively impairs recollection in recognition memory for pictures: Evidence from modelling and receiver operating characteristic curves. Psychology and Aging, 21, 96–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacoby, L. L., Bishara, A., Hessels, S., & Toth, J. (2005). Aging, subjective experience, and cognitive control: Dramatic false remembering by older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 131–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janowsky, J. S., Carper, R., & Kaye, J. (1996). Asymmetrical memory decline in normal and aging dementia. Neuropsychologia, 34, 527–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapucu, A., Rotello, C., Ready, R., & Seidl, K. (2008). Response bias in “remembering” emotional stimuli: A new perspective on age differences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 703–711.Google ScholarPubMed
Keightley, M. L., Winocur, G., Burianova, H., Hongwanishkul, D., & Grady, C. (2006). Age effects on social cognition: Faces tell a different story. Psychology and Aging, 21, 558–572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Q., Mather, M., & Carstensen, L. (2004). The role of motivation in the age-related positivity effect in autobiographical memory. Psychological Science, 15, 208–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kunzmann, U., & Grühn, D. (2005). Age differences in emotional reactivity: The sample case of sadness. Psychology and Aging, 20, 47–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindenberger, U., & Baltes, P. (1997). Intellectual functioning in old and very old age: Cross-sectional results from the Berlin aging study. Psychology and Aging, 12, 410–432.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lobo, A., Saz, P., Marcos, G., & Grupo ZARADEMP (2002). MMSE, Examen Cognoscitivo Mini-Mental [Adaptación española de Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S., McHugh, P., & Fanjiang, G. (2001). MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination. PAR Psychologycal Assessment Resourses, Inc.]. Madrid: TEA ediciones.Google Scholar
Luo, L., Hendriks, T., & Craik, F. I. M. (2007). Age differences in recollection: Three patterns of enhanced encoding. Psychology and Aging, 22, 269–280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mateos, P. M., Meilán, J., & Arana, J. (2002). Motivational versus volitional mediation of passivity in institutionalized older people. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 5, 54–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mather, M., & Knight, M. (2005). Goal-directed memory: The role of cognitive control in older adults' emotional memory. Psychology and Aging, 4, 554–570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mather, M., & Carstensen, L. (2003). Aging and attentional biases for emotional faces. Psychological Science, 14, 409–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mather, M., & Carstensen, L. (2005). Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 496–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meléndez, J. C., Tomás, J. M., & Navarro, E. (2008). Análisis del bienestar en la vejez según la edad. Revista Española de Geriatría y Gerontología, 43, 90–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitrushina, M., Satz, P.Chervinsky, A., & D'Elia, L. (1991). Performance of four age groups of normal elderly on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 351–357.3.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Old, S. R., & Naveh-Benjamin, M. (2008). Differential effects of age on item and associative measures of memory: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 23, 104–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ready, R. E., Carvalho, J., & Weinberger, M. (2008). Emotional complexity in younger, midlife, and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 23, 928–933.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rhodes, M. G., Castel, A., & Jacoby, L. (2008). Associative recognition of face pairs by younger and older adults: The role of familiarity-based processing. Psychology and Aging, 23, 239–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodríguez-Testal, J. F., & Valdés, M. (2003). Brief-time-series analysis of depressive symptomatology in older people. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 6, 35–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruffman, T., Henry, J., Livingstone, V., & Phillips, L. (2008). A meta-analytic review of emotion recognition and aging: Implications for neuropsychological models of aging. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 863–881.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schacter, D. L., Koutstaal, W., & Norman, K. (1997). False memories and aging. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1, 229–236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Searcy, J. H., Bartlett, J. C., Memon, A., & Swanson, K. (2001). Aging and lineup performance at long retention intervals: Effects of metamemory and context reinstatement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 207–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simón, T., Ruiz Gallego-Largo, T., & Suengas, A. G. (2009). Memoria y envejecimiento: recuerdo, reconocimiento y sesgo positivo. Psicothema, 21, 409–415.Google Scholar
Spaniol, J., Voss, A., & Grady, C. (2008). Aging and emotional memory: Mechanisms underlying the positivity effect. Psychology and Aging, 23, 859–872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
St. Jacques, P., & Levine, B. (2007). Ageing and autobiographical memory for emotional and neutral events. Memory, 15, 129–144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suzuki, A., Hoshino, T., Shigemasu, K., & Kawamura, M. (2007). Decline or Improvement? Age-related differences in facial expression recognition. Biological Psychology, 74, 75–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tottenham, N., Borscheid, A., Ellertsen, K., Marcus, D., & Nelson, C. A. (2002). The NimStim Face Set. Retreived from http://www.macbrain.org/faces/index.htm.Google Scholar
Tractenberg, R. E., Aisen, P., & Chuang, Y. (2005). One-trial 10-item free-recall performance in Taiwanese elderly and near-elderly: A potencial screen for cognitive decline. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 20, 239–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triadó, C., Villar, F., Solé, C., Celdrán, M., & Osuna, M. (2009). Daily activity and life satisfaction in older people living in rural contexts. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12, 236–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed