Visual object pattern separation varies in older adults
- 1San Diego State University–University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, California 92120, USA
- 2Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182, USA
- 3Department of Psychiatry, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182, USA
- 4Veterans Affairs, San Diego Health Care System, San Diego, California 92161, USA
- 5Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA
- 6Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA
Abstract
Young and nondemented older adults completed a visual object continuous recognition memory task in which some stimuli (lures) were similar but not identical to previously presented objects. The lures were hypothesized to result in increased interference and increased pattern separation demand. To examine variability in object pattern separation deficits, older adults were divided into impaired and unimpaired groups based on performance on a standardized serial list-learning task. Impaired older adults showed intact recognition memory, but were impaired relative to young and unimpaired older adults when identifying similar lure stimuli, demonstrating that object pattern separation varies in older adults.
Footnotes
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↵7 Corresponding author
E-mail pgilbert.sdsu{at}gmail.com
- Received December 21, 2012.
- Accepted May 7, 2013.
- © 2013, Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
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