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557Recognition performance does not usually change along the lifespan, but the response criterion usually does, and in general, it changes from being conservative during youth to being liberal, in old age. The focus of the present study is to analyze the changes that take place, both in discrimination and response criterion, as a result of aging in two recognition tasks: one with neutral images, and the other with faces showing positive and negative emotional expressions. Two groups of participants performed both tasks: young (N = 21; age range, 17-33 years), older (N = 21; age range, 65-91 years). The analyses of several discrimination parameters (d´ and probability of recognition) and the response criterion yielded significant age differences. Thus, results indicated that the ability to discriminate of older participants was better than that of younger participants when having to recognize neutral images, and faces with negative emotional expressions. The response criterion of younger participants was always conservative, whereas older participants only showed liberal criteria in front of faces with emotional expressions. In relation to the neutral images, the response criterion of older participants was optimum, because it led to more hits, without increasing the false alarms. The results are partially explained by the tasks differential difficulty, and are discussed within the frame of Simulation theory.El rendimiento en pruebas de reconocimiento no suele variar a lo largo de la vida, pero sí lo hace el criterio de respuesta empleado que, en general, pasa de ser conservador, en la juventud, a ser liberal, al envejecer. El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar los cambios que se producen en la discriminación y el criterio de respuesta en función de la edad en dos pruebas de reconocimiento: una frente a imágenes sin carga emocional y otra frente a caras con expresiones faciales positivas y negativas. Dos grupos de participantes realizaron ambas pruebas: joven (N = 21; rango de edad de 17-33 años), mayor (N = 21; rango de edad de 65-91 años). El análisis de diferentes medidas de discriminación (d´ y probabilidad de reconocimiento) y del criterio de respuesta de los participantes en las distintas tareas experimentales arrojó diferencias significativas en función de la edad. Así, los resultados indicaron que la habilidad para discriminar de las personas de más edad supera a la de los jóvenes frente a imágenes neutras y caras con expresiones faciales negativas. En lo que respecta al criterio de respuesta, el de los jóvenes siempre fue conservador, en tanto que el de los mayores fue óptimo frente a imágenes neutras (más aciertos sin incremento de falsas alarmas) y liberal frente a las caras con expresiones faciales emocionales. Los resultados se explican en parte por la dificultad diferencial de las pruebas y se interpretan dentro del marco de la teoría de la simulación.Palabras clave: envejecimiento, reconocimiento, criterio de respuesta, reconocimiento de caras, valencia de la expresión facial.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether one of the supposed gains of aging--positive bias--discriminates between young and older participants to the same extent as some of the losses in cognitive performance--recall and source monitoring--that come with age. Two age groups (N = 120)--young (M = 22.08, SD = 3.30) and older (M = 72.78, SD = 6.57)--carried out three tasks with varying levels of difficulty that included recall, recognition, and source monitoring using pictures, faces, and personal descriptors exchanged in a conversation as stimuli. The results of the discriminant analysis performed on 20 dependent variables indicated that six of them were key in discriminating between young and older participants. Younger participants outperformed older participants in recalling pictures, and in recognizing the descriptors exchanged in a conversation, as well as in monitoring their source. Just as important in discriminating between the two groups were the ability to recognize previously seen pictures, the likability rating they produced, and the recognition of faces with positive expressions--all superior in older participants. Thus, variables related to a positive bias--likability ratings and recognition of positive expressions--characterize the differences as a function of age as well as variables related to cognitive performance, such as recall and source monitoring. In addition, the likability ratings evoked by both pictures and faces were also significantly higher in the older participants with better cognitive performance than in those who performed poorly. This effect was not present in younger participants. The results are interpreted within the framework of socioemotional selectivity theory as evidence for a positive bias in old age. The connection between a positive bias and the maintenance of cognitive performance is also discussed.

In contrast to previous studies which addressed separately memory for source and referent, the present experiment analyzes the effects of aging on memory for both, source and referent. The experiment simulated a conversation between two people exchanging descriptors of themselves and the other speaker (e.g., “I am helpful,” “you are capable”). Participants (N = 60) were divided into two age groups: younger (M = 23.47 years old, SD = 2.37), older (M = 70.30 years old, SD = 3.73). Recall, recognition, and accuracy in identifying source (e.g., “who said helpful?”) and referent (e.g., “about whom was capable said?”) were analyzed. Younger and older adults recalled and recognized equally well information read by the experimenter about herself, but only young adults showed better memory for the descriptors they read about themselves. Older adults were impaired in source monitoring, but not in reference discrimination. Normal referent discrimination in older adults is attributed to the fact that the referent forms part of the content of the episode, whereas who spoke it is part of its context, and older adults tend to show greater deficits in context than in content memory. These results are explained within the source and reality monitoring framework.

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