Moret-Tatay, C;Moreno-Cid, A;Argimon, IID;Irigaray, TQ;Szczerbinski, M;Murphy, M;Vazquez-Martinez, A;Vazquez-Molina, J;Saiz-Mauleon, B;Navarro-Pardo, E;Castella, PFD

2014

October

Scandinavian journal of psychology

The effects of age and emotional valence on recognition memory: An ex-Gaussian components analysis

Validated

WOS: 16 ()

ATTENTION VARIABILITY CHILDREN TASKS TIMES ADHD

55

420

426

The aim of this work was to study the effects of valence and age on visual image recognition memory. The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) battery was used, and response time data were analyzed using analysis of variance, as well as an ex-Gaussian fit method. Older participants were slower and more variable in their reaction times. Response times were longer for negative valence pictures, however this was statistically significant only for young participants. This suggests that negative emotional valence has a strong effect on recognition memory in young but not in old participants. The parameter, often related to attention in the literature, was smaller for young than old participants in an ex-Gaussian fit. Differences on the parameter might suggest poorer attentional performance in old participants.

HOBOKEN

0036-5564

10.1111/sjop.12136