Primed word-fragment completion and successive memory test performance in normal aging

Scand J Psychol. 2003 Sep;44(4):355-61. doi: 10.1111/1467-9450.00355.

Abstract

Young and old subjects were investigated to examine whether: the effects of priming are influenced by aging; there is independence between primed word-fragment completion and recognition performances; and the dependence between different tests is influenced by aging. A successive test paradigm was employed involving repeated assessment of to-be-remembered words by means of recognition and primed word-fragment completion. The results show that implicit memory declines with increasing age, and that correlations between different memory tests decrease with age. The outcome suggests that age-related memory decline involves several forms of memory, including primed word-fragment completion, and is reflected in correlations between measures of implicit and explicit memory.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aging / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests*
  • Vocabulary*