Effects of perceptual similarity but not semantic association on false recognition in aging

The effect of visual perspective on episodic memory in aging: A virtual reality study

The possibility of flexibly retrieving our memories using a first-person or a third-person perspective (1PP or 3PP) has been extensively investigated in episodic memory research. Here, we used a Virtual Reality-based paradigm to manipulate the visual perspective used during the encoding stage to investigate age-related differences in the formation of memories experienced from 1PP vs. 3PP. 32 young adults and 32 seniors participated in the study. Participants navigated through two virtual cities to encode complex real-life virtual events, from either a 1PP (as if from their egocentric viewpoint) or a 3PP, while actively controlling an avatar. While recognition accuracy was higher in young adults after encoding in 1PP compared to 3PP, there was no benefit in memory formation in 1PP for older adults. These findings are discussed in terms of both age-related changes in episodic memory functioning and self-referencing processes.

The production of false recognition and the associated state of consciousness following encoding in a naturalistic context in aging

Using virtual reality, we implemented a naturalistic variant of the DRM paradigm in young and older adults to evaluate false recall and false recognition. We distinguished false recognition related to the highest semantic association (the critical lures), semantic similarity (i.e. items that belong to the same semantic category), and perceptual similarity (i.e. items that are similar, but not identical in terms of shape or color). The data revealed that younger adults recalled and recognized more correct elements than older adults did while the older adults intruded more critical items than younger adults. Both age groups produced false recognition related to the critical items, followed by perceptually and then semantically related items. False recognitions were highly recollective as they were mainly associated with a sense of remembering, even more so in older adults than in young adults. The decline of executive functions and working memory predicted age-related increases in false memories.

The Role of Perceptual Interference, Semantic Interference, and Relational Integration in the Development of Analogical Reasoning

This study aimed to examine the role of perceptual interference, semantic interference, and relational integration (RI) in the development of analogical reasoning, and to compare the interactive pattern of interference and RI in children and adults. In Experiment 1, we tested 31 3- and 4-year-olds, 27 5- and 6-year-olds, and 40 adults for perceptual interference and RI in analogical reasoning. Perceptual interference emerged when proper mapping between analogically matching objects was incoherent with their perceptual features. RI was evaluated via manipulation of the number of objects in an analogical scene. Significant main effects of perceptual interference and RI were found in children and adults. In Experiment 2, we tested 30 3- and 4-year-olds, 27 5- and 6-year-olds, and 40 adults for semantic interference and RI in analogical reasoning. Semantic interference emerged when proper mapping between analogically matching objects was incoherent with their categorical features. Results showed significant main effects of semantic interference and RI in children and adults. The results of both experiments suggested different mechanisms of interference and RI in children and adults. For children, interference and RI depended on shared cognitive sources. If one factor (i.e., interference resolution) needed more cognitive demand, there would be limited resources available for another factor (i.e., RI). Furthermore, for adults, the increased load of RI and interference on adults' analogical reasoning exceeded the sum of their respective singular effects. For 3- and 4-year-olds, the degree of perceptual interference was larger than the degree of semantic interference in the Binary Relation condition, whereas there was no significant difference between the degree of two types of interference in the Quaternary Relation condition. Moreover, for 5- and 6-year-olds, the degree of semantic interference was larger than the degree of perceptual interference in both relation conditions. For adults, there was no difference between the degree of two types of interference in both relation conditions. The article also discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this research.

Evidence for adult age-invariance in associative false recognition

Older people are more prone to memory distortions and errors than young people, but do not always show greater false recognition in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task. We report two preregistered experiments investigating whether recent findings of age-invariant false recognition extend to designs in which studied items are blocked. According to (Tun, P. A., Wingfield, A., Rosen, M. J., & Blanchard, L. (1998). Response latencies for false memories: Gist-based processes in normal aging. Psychology and Aging, 13(2), 230-241.), age effects on false recognition in the DRM task are due to a greater reliance on gist processing which is enhanced under blocked study conditions. Experiment 1 assessed false recognition in an online variant of the DRM task where words were presented visually, with incidental encoding. The results showed Bayesian evidence against greater false recognition by older adults, whether lures were semantically associated with studied lists, or perceptually related (presented in the same distinctive font as studied lists) or both. Experiment 2 used a typical DRM procedure with auditory lists and intentional encoding, closely reproducing (Tun, P. A., Wingfield, A., Rosen, M. J., & Blanchard, L. (1998). Response latencies for false memories: Gist-based processes in normal aging. Psychology and Aging, 13(2), 230-241.) Experiment 2 but omitting an initial test of recall. The results showed evidence against an age-related increase in critical lure false recognition under these conditions. Together, the data suggest that older people do not make more associative memory errors in recognition tests than young people.

Perceptual Similarity Can Drive Age-Related Elevation of False Recognition

Older adults consistently show elevated rates of false recognition of new items that are related to studied items. This finding has been largely attributed to a greater tendency for older adults to rely on conceptual gist during memory recognition tasks. However, perceptual factors may also be implicated considering that related items are not only conceptually but also perceptually similar. While some findings do suggest that age-related increases in false recognitions can be driven by perceptual factors, little is known about the nature and circumstances under which these factors operate. To address this gap, we measured basic visual ability as well as false recognition for four different image categories (upright faces, inverted faces, chairs, houses) in younger (n = 34) and older (n = 34) adults. Each image category represented different levels of variability in perceptual similarity and pre-experimental exposure. Perceptual similarity was objectively defined on the basis of the low-level properties of the images. We found evidence that perceptual similarity can contribute to elevated rates of false recognition in older adults. Our results also suggest that declines in basic visual abilities influence elevated false recognition in older adults for perceptually similar but not perceptually dissimilar items. We conclude that both perceptual and conceptual similarity can drive age-related differences in false recognition.