Browsing by Author "Madden, DJ"

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    Age-related slowing in the retrieval of information from long-term memory.
    (Journal of gerontology, 1985-03) Madden, DJ
    The present experiment investigated adult age differences in the retrieval of information from long-term memory. Each trial required a decision regarding the synonymy of two visually presented words. On the yes-response trials, the two words were either identical, differed only in case, or were synonyms that differed in case. Age differences in absolute decision time were greater for the synonyms than for the other word pairs, but the proportional slowing of decision time exhibited by the older adults was constant across word-pair type. A generalized age-related slowing in the speed of information processing can currently account for age differences in the retrieval of letter-identity and semantic information from long-term memory.
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    Aging and distraction by highly familiar stimuli during visual search
    (Developmental Psychology, 1983-07-01) Madden, DJ
    P. Rabbitt's (1965, 1968) theory regarding age-related changes in cognition proposes that aging is accompanied by a decreased ability to ignore irrelevant information (perceptual noise). The present experiment examined age differences in the extent to which highly familiar stimuli used as perceptual noise could disrupt visual search performance. On Days 1-4, 10 Ss aged 19-27 yrs and 10 Ss aged 63-77 yrs performed a search task with specific, unchanging sets of target and nontarget stimuli (letters). Performance on a subsequent search task (Day 5) was disrupted when these familiar stimuli appeared as noise items in the displays, as compared with trials on which only new, unpracticed stimuli were used. The magnitude of the distraction associated with the familiar stimuli on Day 5 was equivalent for the 2 age groups. However, age differences in Day 5 search performance increased as more items in the simulus display required inspection. Age differences were thus influenced more by the requirement to attend to relevant information than by distraction from irrelevant information. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1983 American Psychological Association.
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    Aging and the development of automaticity in visual search
    (Developmental Psychology, 1980-09-01) Madden, DJ; Nebes, RD
    The rate of short-term memory search has previously been reported to be slower for older individuals than for college-age Ss (F. I. Craik, 1977). Current research has suggested that after extensive practice with the same population of stimuli, performance in memory-search and visual-search tasks can become "automatic," or independent of memory load. The present experiment examined age differences in the development of automatic processing in a hybrid memory-search/visual-search paradigm; 8 young (18-25 yrs old) and 8 older (61-74 yrs old) Ss participated. Although older Ss demonstrated a significantly slower rate of search, the 2 age groups shifted toward automatic processing, over practice, at equivalent rates. The slower rate of search thus represents an age-related increase in the time required to compare the memory-set items against those in a visual array, rather than a change in the mode of processing available. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1980 American Psychological Association.
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    Data-driven and memory-driven selective attention in visual search.
    (Journal of gerontology, 1984-01) Madden, DJ
    The present experiment investigated Rabbitt's (1979) hypothesis that age differences in selective attention occur when memory-driven processing must be employed. Young and older adults performed a visual search task, which, on some trials, provided advance information (a cue) regarding the particular target letter most likely to appear in the display. The nature of the selectivity required by the cue was either data-driven (Condition 1) or memory-driven (Condition 2). Analyses of the benefit in search performance associated with the cued trials and of the cost in performance resulting from the presentation of misleading advance information yielded limited support for Rabbitt's hypothesis. The older adults, but not the young, did exhibit a smaller cuing benefit in Condition 2 than in Condition 1. Both age groups, however, demonstrated substantial benefits and costs within each condition. Age differences in selective attention are thus not determined completely by the requirement to use memory-driven processing.
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    Disconnected aging: cerebral white matter integrity and age-related differences in cognition.
    (Neuroscience, 2014-09) Bennett, IJ; Madden, DJ
    Cognition arises as a result of coordinated processing among distributed brain regions and disruptions to communication within these neural networks can result in cognitive dysfunction. Cortical disconnection may thus contribute to the declines in some aspects of cognitive functioning observed in healthy aging. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is ideally suited for the study of cortical disconnection as it provides indices of structural integrity within interconnected neural networks. The current review summarizes results of previous DTI aging research with the aim of identifying consistent patterns of age-related differences in white matter integrity, and of relationships between measures of white matter integrity and behavioral performance as a function of adult age. We outline a number of future directions that will broaden our current understanding of these brain-behavior relationships in aging. Specifically, future research should aim to (1) investigate multiple models of age-brain-behavior relationships; (2) determine the tract-specificity versus global effect of aging on white matter integrity; (3) assess the relative contribution of normal variation in white matter integrity versus white matter lesions to age-related differences in cognition; (4) improve the definition of specific aspects of cognitive functioning related to age-related differences in white matter integrity using information processing tasks; and (5) combine multiple imaging modalities (e.g., resting-state and task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging; fMRI) with DTI to clarify the role of cerebral white matter integrity in cognitive aging.
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    Hemispheric differences in memory search.
    (Neuropsychologia, 1980-01) Madden, DJ; Nebes, RD
    Recent evidence suggests that memory demands contribute to visual field (VF) differences in tachistoscopic recognition. The present experiment examined VF differences in a memory-search paradigm using verbal stimuli (digits). The results demonstrated a significant advantage to right VF-left hemisphere presentation that was associated with the memory comparison stage of the task, but not with the perceptual encoding and response stages. These data are more consistent with a relative efficiency model of hemispheric specialization than with a functional localization model. © 1980.
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    Lateral symmetry of auditory attention in hemispherectomized patients.
    (Neuropsychologia, 1981-01) Nebes, RD; Madden, DJ; Berg, WD
    Single digits were monaurally presented in a random order to the right and left ears of hemispherectomized patients. Vocal identification time was found to be equivalent for the two ears. This result does not support the existence of a massive lateral shift of attention in these patients. It is thus unlikely that the large ear difference typically found with dichotic presentation in hemispherectomized patients is due to an asymmetrical distribution of auditory attention. © 1981.
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    Probing echoic memory with different voices
    (Memory & Cognition, 1977-05-01) Madden, DJ; Bastian, J
    Considerable evidence has indicated that some acoustical properties of spoken items are preserved in an "echoic" memory for approximately 2 sec. However, some of this evidence has also shown that changing the voice speaking the stimulus items has a disruptive effect on memory which persists longer than that of other acoustical variables. The present experiment examined the effect of voice changes on response bias as well as on accuracy in a recognition memory task. The task involved judging recognition probes as being present in or absent from sets of dichotically presented digits. Recognition of probes spoken in the same voice as that of the dichotic items was more accurate than recognition of different-voice probes at each of three retention intervals of up to 4 sec. Different-voice probes increased the likelihood of "absent" responses, but only up to a 1.4-sec delay. These shifts in response bias may represent a property of echoic memory which should be investigated further. © 1977 Psychonomic Society, Inc.