Location Negative Priming May Be Abolished in Older Age

Abstract

The present study highlights with the example of location negative priming (LNP) a considerable problem in ageing research, namely the lack of consistent replication of age-related effects on measures of cognitive inhibition. Only a few studies have investigated the effects of ageing on LNP with the overall conclusion that LNP remains largely intact in older adults. In contrast, the two experiments presented here demonstrated a significant abolition of LNP in older relative to younger participants. LNP was a robust effect over early and middle adulthood (19 years - 59 years) but declined from the age of 60 years onwards. Moreover, this effect could not be accounted for by psychometric variables that have been associated with impaired negative priming (dementia, depression, schizotypy, cognitive failure). Thus, the present data provide evidence that LNP can be severely diminished in older adults. It is suggested that discrepancies to previous studies might have arisen due to differences in the educational level of participants in different studies.