A Systematic Investigation into the Generation of Words Using Semantic Priming Experiments

Semantic priming facilitates word generation by improving the ability to produce semantically related words. However, age-related neurobiological changes may diminish this capacity. This study investigates the effect of aging on word generation across different semantic categories in 150 healthy individuals, aged 31 to 80, divided into five age groups. Participants were tasked with generating words in the categories of synonym, antonym, abstract, and concrete, using the DMDX software. The number of words generated and the accuracy of responses were recorded. The findings revealed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the number of words generated across most age groups, with the exception of adjacent age groups (31–40 vs. 41–50, 41–50 vs. 51–60, and 61–70 vs. 71–80), where no significant differences were observed. These results suggest that neurobiological changes between adjacent age groups are subtle. The reduced performance observed in older adults may be attributed to a diminished ability to strategically access and retrieve lexical forms from semantic memory. However, semantic priming appears to mitigate these age-related declines, preventing significant differences between adjacent age groups.