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Abstract:
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.
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