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Deficits in category learning in older adults : rule-based versus clustering accounts

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Badham, Stephen P., Sanborn, Adam N. and Maylor, Elizabeth A. (2017) Deficits in category learning in older adults : rule-based versus clustering accounts. Psychology and Aging, 32 (5). pp. 473-488. doi:10.1037/pag0000183 ISSN 0882-7974.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pag0000183

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Abstract

Memory research has long been one of the key areas of investigation for cognitive aging researchers but only in the last decade or so has categorization been used to understand age differences in cognition. Categorization tasks focus more heavily on the grouping and organization of items in memory, and often on the process of learning relationships through trial and error. Categorization studies allow researchers to more accurately characterize age differences in cognition: whether older adults show declines in the way in which they represent categories with simple rules or declines in representing categories by similarity to past examples. In the current study, young and older adults participated in a set of classic category learning problems, which allowed us to distinguish between three hypotheses: (i) rule-complexity: categories were represented exclusively with rules and older adults had differential difficulty when more complex rules were required, (ii) rule-specific: categories could be represented either by rules or by similarity, and there were age deficits in using rules, and (iii) clustering: similarity was mainly used and older adults constructed a less-detailed representation by lumping more items into fewer clusters. The ordinal levels of performance across different conditions argued against rule-complexity, as older adults showed greater deficits on less complex categories. The data also provided evidence against rule-specificity, as single-dimensional rules could not explain age declines. Instead, computational modelling of the data indicated that older adults utilized fewer conceptual clusters of items in memory than did young adults.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Aging -- Psychological aspects, Aging, Cognition disorders -- Age factors, Cognition disorders in old age, Learning, Cluster analysis
Journal or Publication Title: Psychology and Aging
Publisher: American Psychological Association
ISSN: 0882-7974
Official Date: August 2017
Dates:
DateEvent
August 2017Published
15 May 2017Accepted
Volume: 32
Number: 5
Page Range: pp. 473-488
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000183
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit: 16 May 2017
Date of first compliant Open Access: 27 September 2017
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
ES/K002732/1Economic and Social Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
ES/K004948/1Economic and Social Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
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