Age, criterion flexibility, and item recognition

We examined young and older adults' ability to flexibly adapt response criterion on a recognition test when the probability that a test item had been studied was cued by test color. One word color signaled that the probability of the test item being old was 70% and a second color signaled that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 2018-05, Vol.25 (3), p.390-405
Main Authors: North, Lione J, Olfman, Darlene, Caldera, Daniel R, Munoz, Emily, Light, Leah L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognitive Aging - psychology
Cues
Executive Function
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Probability Learning
Reaction Time
Recognition (Psychology)
Signal Detection, Psychological
Visual Perception
Young Adult
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Summary:We examined young and older adults' ability to flexibly adapt response criterion on a recognition test when the probability that a test item had been studied was cued by test color. One word color signaled that the probability of the test item being old was 70% and a second color signaled that the probability of the test item being new was 70%. Young and older adults demonstrated similar levels of criterion shifting in response to color cues. Moreover, although both young and older adults were slowed when test-item color incorrectly predicted test-item status, the extent of slowing did not differ across age group. Putative measures of cognitive control predicted recognition accuracy but not the degree to which criterion changed with test-item color. These results suggest that adaptive criterion shifting does not tax cognitive control or, if it does require effort, may be no more onerous for older than for young adults.
ISSN:1382-5585
1744-4128
DOI:10.1080/13825585.2017.1319144