Age-related Differences in Word Recognition Tasks according to Visual Interference and Noun Imagery [단어재인 과제에서 시각적 방해자극 및 명사 심상성에 따른 청년층 및 노년층 간 수행력 비교]

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate age-related differences in word recognition tasks according to visual interferences using dynamic visual noise (DVN) and noun imagery. Methods: A total of 62 participants (young participants: 31, elderly participants: 31) participated in the study and each of those two groups were randomly classified into two sub-groups, 15 with visual interference and 16 with no visual interference respectively. The word stimuli consisted of two syllable words, including concrete and abstract nouns. The visual interference was created based on the DVN. Results: First, the main effect on all age groups was statistically significant in hit rate, false alarm rate, and sensitivity. Secondly, the main effects on the imagery were statistically significant in both hit rates and sensitivity. Also, all age groups exhibited a concreteness effect because the secondary interactions between age and imagery are not significant. Thirdly, the secondary interactions between visual interference and imagery were statistically significant in the hit rate but not sensitivity. Fourthly, in the age-controlled partial correlation analysis, there was a strong correlation between the working memory capacity and the hit rate and sensitivity of abstract nouns in the group with DVN. Conclusion: The decline in cognitive ability due to aging makes language processing difficult, thereby affecting the performance of word recognition, but the concrete effect was found to appear in all age groups regardless of the aging in the process of language processing © 2022. Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology