Effects of Stimuli Repetition and Age in False Recognition

The aim of the current study is to examine the effects of stimuli repetition and age in false recognition using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott experimental paradigm. Two matched samples of 32 young adults and 32 healthy older adults studied 10 lists of six words associated with three non-presented critical words. On half of the lists, the words were presented once, and on the other five lists, the words were presented three times, always following a same sequential order. After each study list, participants performed a self-paced recognition test containing 12 words: the 6 studied words and 6 other non-studied words (the 3 critical words and 3 distractors). The results show that false recognition increases with age and declines in both samples with repetitions (although more in the young adults than in the older people). Results are discussed in relation to the dual-process theories of (false) memory.