Age-related differences in the distractor previewing effect with schematic faces of emotions

Abstract

Young and older adults searched for a unique face in a set of three schematic faces and identified a secondary feature of the target. The faces could be negative, positive, or neutral. Young adults were slower and less accurate in searching for a negative face among neutral faces when they had previewed a display of negative faces than when they had previewed neutral faces, indicating an emotional distractor previewing effect (DPE), but this effect was eliminated with inverted faces. The DPE is an index of inter-trial inhibition to keep attention away from previewed, non-target information. Older adults also showed such an emotional DPE, but it was present with both upright and inverted faces. These results show that, in general, both young and old participants are sensitive to trial history, yet the different patterns of results suggest that these two groups remember and use different types of perceptual information when searching through emotional faces.

Effects of aging and recall of common and uncommon first names using the face-name association technique compared with the pure-lists technique over repeated trials

“…Overall, the research shows support for the NST [20,22] in that common names show superior recall, encoding, consolidation, and retrieval/retention over uncommon names. In further support of the FNAT, when controlling for the age [68] and emotional expressions of the to-be-remembered faces [69] , older adults show a deficit across all EM variables for recalling names in association with unknown faces.…”

“…Previous studies have suggested that younger and older participants respond differently to faces with different emotional expressions [69] , ages [68] , and celebrity status [66] . Hence, experiment 1 used computer-generated faces of older adults with neutral expressions.…”

“…The faces were computer generated and taken from the study by Firestone et al [68] . Measures were taken to avoid confounding factors, including ensuring that the faces did not resemble famous faces [66] , that facial expressions were neutral [69] , and that the same faces were used in both experimental lists [11] (except the practice lists).…”

“…The emotional expressions of faces have also been shown to be important in either recognition or attentional bias between younger and older participants [69,70] . Griffin [11] argues that it is almost impossible to match faces in a between-subjects experiment; therefore, a within-subjects technique should be used when investigating name commonality.…”