Meeting Mr Davis vs Mr Davin: Effects of name frequency on learning proper names in young and older adults

Abstract

Two theoretical frameworks relevant to proper name learning in ageing make competing predictions about the effects of name frequency. Under an inhibition model, common (high-frequency; HF) proper names will be harder to learn and remember than rare (low-frequency; LF) names, whereas under a transmission deficit model, HF names will have the advantage. Young adults (ages 18–31) and two groups of healthy older adults (ages 60–74 and 75–89) learned HF (e.g., Davis) and LF (e.g., Davin) surnames in association with new faces. Young adults recalled more names than older or oldest adults, and participants of all ages recalled more HF than LF names. There was no interaction between age and name frequency: The difference favouring HF names was similar in magnitude across age groups. All evidence runs contrary to the inhibitory model's prediction that interference makes learning HF names difficult.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by an award to the first author from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ Committee on Research and Creative Works. Portions of this research were presented to the 2004 meeting of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI and to the 2006 Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA. We thank Deborah Burke for valuable discussion concerning the project, and Jennifer Hawkins and Ethan McMahan for research assistance.

Notes

¹Speed of name access is assumed to reflect ease of retrieval and thus is related to retrieval success (e.g., as measured by percent correct). We do not claim that increased retrieval speed will directly cause retrieval of more names, but rather discuss retrieval speed and amount of correct responses as two measures of retrieval ease.