Title
Imagery Interference Diminishes in Older Adults: Age-Related Differences in the Magnitude of the Perky Effect
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Imagination, cognition and personality
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Abstract
Studies have documented the negative effects of mental imagery on perception (also known as the Perky effect) in younger adults, but imagery-interference effects in older adults have never been assessed. Two experiments examined this issue directly. Experiment 1 demonstrated that visual mental images diminish visual acuity in younger adults (mean age = 19.0) but not older adults (mean age = 73.6). Experiment 2 obtained parallel results, showing that visual imagery interfered with performance on a visual detection task in younger (mean age = 18.7) but not older adults (mean age = 66.7). Processes underlying age-related differences in imagery-interference effects are discussed and implications of these results for changes in cognitive performance in older adults are considered.
Volume
29
Issue
4
First Page
307
Last Page
322
DOI
10.2190/ic.29.4.c
ISSN
0276-2366
PubMed ID
21031150
Recommended Citation
Craver-Lemley, Catherine; Bornstein, Robert F.; Alexander, Danielle N.; and Barrett, Anna M., "Imagery Interference Diminishes in Older Adults: Age-Related Differences in the Magnitude of the Perky Effect" (2009). Faculty Publications. 1624.
https://jayscholar.etown.edu/facpubharvest/1624
