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Abstract:
We previously reported age related differences in possible /
impossible object-decision priming with line-drawn novel objects
over various study-to-test delays. Youngs showed preserved priming
at an immediate test, and at delays of 20, 90 minutes, and one
week. In contrast, Elders primed only at the immediate test. In a
replication with depth-cued symmetric and asymmetric novel objects,
participants studied distinct sets of stimuli immediately before
test, and at either 20 or 90 minutes prior. Objects were
individually presented for 5 second exposures following which
participants indicated whether each faced primarily towards the
left or the right (structural encoding). At test, images from the
two study epochs were randomly intermixed with nonstudied items and
shown for brief durations (elders: 200 msec; youngs: 33 msec) and
participants indicated whether items were symmetric or asymmetric.
Preliminary results suggest that youngs show priming for objects in
all delay conditions while elders do not show priming in any. Since
elders reliably perform above chance for both nonstudied and
studied stimuli, failure to prime does not arise from task
difficulty. These results suggest that representations encoded from
novel depth-cued objects are less durable in elders.
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