Aging and recognition processes

The aim of our study was twofold : to explore the effect of aging on recollection and familiarity and to compare two procedures for testing recognition (the yes-no and forced choice procedures). We administered a yes-no and a forced choice recognition task using unfamiliar faces as material to 32 young subjects (mean age: 23) and 32 older adults (mean age: 64.28). During the recognition phase, participants were asked to classify each recognised item as one that evoked a Remember response, a Know response or a Guess response. The results indicated significant age differences on global performance in the yes-no recognition task, but not in the forced choice task. Moreover, older adults gave less Remember responses and slightly more Know responses than young subjects. Our findings are consistent with previous studies indicating a reduction of recollection with aging. Concerning the contribution of recollection and familiarity to recognition as a function of the test format, participants in each age group used more Remember responses in the yes-no task than in the forced choice task and more Know responses in the forced choice than in the yes-no task. Our results seem to support the assumption that the contribution of recollection and familiarity depends on the type of testing procedure.