THE ROLE OF AGE AND EMOTIONAL VALENCE IN WORD RECOGNITION: AN EX-GAUSSIAN ANALYSIS

• Authors: Amparo Moreno-Cid , Carmen Moret-Tatay , Tatiana Quarti Irigaray , Irani I. L. Argimon , Michael Murphy , Marcin Szczerbinski , David Martínez-Rubio , María José Beneyto-Arrojo , Esperanza Navarro-Pardo , Pedro Fernández
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

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 τ 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

EN

WORD RECOGNITION; EMOTIONAL VALENCE; EX-GAUSSIAN PARAMETER

• Publisher: Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Psychologica
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 57
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 83 – 94

Contributors

author

Amparo Moreno-Cid

• Departamento de Neuropsicobiología, Metodología y Psicología Social Facultad de Psicología, San Vicente Mártir Sede de San Juan Bautista, 175, 46008, Valencia, Spain

author

Carmen Moret-Tatay

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Tatiana Quarti Irigaray

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Irani I. L. Argimon

author

Michael Murphy

author

Marcin Szczerbinski

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David Martínez-Rubio

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María José Beneyto-Arrojo

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Esperanza Navarro-Pardo

author

Pedro Fernández