An experimental and computational analysis of age differences in the recognition of fragmented pictures: Inhibitory connections versus speed of processing

Young and older adults were tested for the ability to identify degraded pic tures presented either in a series of incremental steps with each step incr easing the completeness of the visual information (ascending condition) or in one single exposure (fixed condition). Significant interference effects, indicated by a superiority of fixed over ascending presentations, appeared at a lower level of performance for the older adults than for the young ad ults. This finding was consistent with the notion of an inhibition deficit operating in normal aging. A computer simulation, based on simple connectio nist architecture, demonstrated that an age-related inhibition deficit in t he identification of fragmented pictures can be produced by slowed processi ng rates.