The role of age and emotional valence in word recognition: an ex-Gaussian analysis

Moreno-Cid, Amparo; Moret-Tatay, Carmen; Irigaray, Tatiana Quarti; Argimon, Irani I. L.; Murphy, Michael; Szczerbinski, Marcin; Martínez-Rubio, David; Beneyto-Arrojo, María José; Navarro-Pard, Esperanza; Fernández, Pedro

The role of age and emotional valence in word recognition: an ex-Gaussian analysis

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Published Version

Date

2015-01

Authors

Moreno-Cid, Amparo

Moret-Tatay, Carmen

Irigaray, Tatiana Quarti

Argimon, Irani I. L.

Murphy, Michael

Szczerbinski, Marcin

Martínez-Rubio, David

Beneyto-Arrojo, María José

Navarro-Pard, Esperanza

Fernández, Pedro

Publisher

Institute of Experimental Psychology, Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract

The aim of this work is to evaluate the roles of age and emotional valence in word recognition in terms of ex-Gaussian distribution components. In order to do that, a word recognition task was carried out with two age groups, in which emotional valence was manipulated. Older participants did not present a clear trend for reaction times. The younger participants showed significant statistical differences in negative words for target and distracting conditions. Addressing the ex-Gaussian tau parameter, often related to attentional demands in the literature, age-related differences in emotional valence seem not to have an effect for negative words. Focusing on emotional valence for each group, the younger participants only showed an effect on negative distracting words. The older participants showed an effect regarding negative and positive target words, and negative distracting words. This suggests that the attentional demand is higher for emotional words, in particular, for the older participants.

Keywords

Word recognition , Emotional valence , Ex-Gaussian components , Memory , Arousal , Pictures , Program , Task , Information , Statistics , Experience , Young

Citation

Moreno-Cid, A., Moret-Tatay, C., Irigaray, T.Q., Argimon, I.I.L., Murphy, M., Szczerbinski, M., Martinez-Rubio, D., Beneyto-Arrojo, M.J., Navarro-Pard, E. and Fernandez, P. (2015) 'The role of age and emotional valence in word recognition: an ex-Gaussian analysis', Studia Psychologica, 57(2), pp.83-94.