PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Evelien Heyselaar
AU  - Linda Wheeldon
AU  - Katrien Segaert
TI  - Structural priming is supported by different components of non-declarative memory: Evidence from priming across the lifespan
AID  - 10.1101/190355
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 190355
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/09/19/190355.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/09/19/190355.full
AB  - This study investigates how non-declarative memory supports both the transient, short-term and the persistent, long-term structural priming effects commonly seen in the literature. Specifically, we propose that these characteristics are supported by different subcomponents of non-declarative memory: perceptual and conceptual non-declarative memory respectively. To test this proposal, we investigated how the magnitude of short‐ and long-term structural priming effects change throughout the lifespan. Previous studies have suggested that perceptual and conceptual memory age differently, with only conceptual memory showing age-related decline. Therefore, by investigating how decreased performance in perceptual and conceptual non-declarative memory tasks relate to decreased structural priming magnitude across the lifespan, we aim to elucidate how non-declarative memory supports two seemingly different components of structural priming. We find no change in short-term priming magnitude and performance on perceptual tasks, whereas both long-term priming and conceptual memory declined with age. We conclude that the two seemingly different components of structural priming are supported by different components of non-declarative memory. These findings have important implications for theoretical accounts of structural priming.