Glanc, GinaLogan, Jessica M.Grime, MeganAnuwe, AntonetteThompson, Janelle2022-02-212022-02-212016-08-22Glanc, G.A., Logan, J.M., Grime, M., Anuwe, A. and Thompson, J., 2016. Using orthographic neighborhood size manipulations to investigate memory deficits in aging memory. Cogent Psychology, 3(1), p.1220445.https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/90156In three previous studies, manipulations of orthographic neighborhood size and orienting task were used to differentiate between item-specific and relational processing in young adults (aged 18–35) in standard recognition tasks. The current study attempts to investigate memory deficits in older adults (aged 65+) using similar manipulations. Experiment 1 manipulated orthographic neighborhood size within an item recognition task. Young adults demonstrated a standard mirror effect, showing more accurate performance for low-N words. No such effect was found in older adults, possibly indicating a deficit in item-specific processing. Experiment 2 included an orienting task during study to emphasize a specific type of processing. While younger adults’ performance was influenced by orienting task, older adults showed consistently better performance for High-N words. These results suggest that older adults show a deficit in item-specific processing, relying more on relational processing regardless of task.en-USAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/recognition memoryrelational processingitem-specific processingorthographic neighborhood sizeorienting taskaging memorymemory deficitsArticlehttps://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2016.1220445