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

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
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
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute of Experimental Psychology, Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Published Version
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
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.
Description
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.
Copyright
© 2015, the Authors.