[en] Background: Aging is characterized by a decline in associative memory. However, under some conditions, such as in the presence of semantic relatedness within the association, the age-related associative decline can be attenuated. In this study, we evaluated whether the nature of the semantic relationship between the memoranda (taxonomic versus thematic) could modulate the impact of semantic relatedness on older adults' associative memory. Methods: We assessed 40 young adults and 40 older adults' associative memory for associations that were either taxonomically-related, thematically-related, or unrelated. Results: While the main results showed age-related differences in all associative memory tasks without attenuation by semantic relatedness, the results after excluding 4 outlier older participants suggest that older adults' associative memory performance did not differ from that of young adults for thematically-related pairs, while there was an age-related difference in associative memory for taxonomically-related pairs as well as for unrelated pairs. Discussion: This could suggest that the nature of the semantic relationship between the memoranda can modulate the impact of semantic relatedness on older adults' associative memory performance, although the reason why this is not the case for all older participants still needs to be understood.
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
Delhaye, Emma ; Université de Liège - ULiège > CRC In vivo Imaging-Aging & Memory
Folville, Adrien ; Université de Liège - ULiège > CRC In vivo Imaging-Aging & Memory
Bastin, Christine ; Université de Liège - ULiège > CRC In vivo Imaging-Aging & Memory
Language :
English
Title :
The Impact of Semantic Relatedness on Associative Memory in Aging Depending on the Semantic Relationships between the Memoranda.
Publication date :
2019
Journal title :
Experimental Aging Research
ISSN :
0361-073X
eISSN :
1096-4657
Publisher :
Taylor & Francis, United Kingdom
Volume :
45
Issue :
5
Pages :
469-479
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Name of the research project :
SAO-FRA; grant S#14003); Wallonia Brussels Federation Special Funds for Research (grant #FSRC-14/11); FRESH/FRS-FNRS, Inter-University Attraction Pole P7/11
Funders :
ULiège - Université de Liège [BE] Fonds Léon Fredericq [BE] Alzheimer Research Foundation FWB - Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles [BE]
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