Psychonomics 2018 poster
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Abstract:
Recent research (James et al., 2018) has demonstrated a link between self-reported anxiety symptoms and tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) which changes with age: Moderate levels of anxiety increase TOTs in older adults but decrease TOTs in middle-aged adults. To better understand the role of attentional control in these relationships, the current study used the same Cam-CAN lifespan cohort to investigate emotional responsiveness and its ability to predict automatic versus attentionally-demanding component processes involved in word retrieval. Participants (aged 18-87) rated their positive and negative emotional reactions to valenced videos and also completed a TOT-inducing task in which they attempted to name faces of public figures. Results indicated that older adults’ performance benefitted from increased levels of emotional responsivity. We discuss the conditions under which name retrieval is supported versus impaired in terms of linguistic and attentional demands.
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Citation:
Shafto, M.A., Abrams, L., James, L.E., and Cam-CAN (2018, November). The effect of emotional responsivity on name retrieval varies across the lifespan. Poster presented at the meeting of the Psychonomics Society, New Orleans, USA.
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Poster:
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Age group regression tables:
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