Ageing effects on word production processes: an ERP topographic analysis

Abstract

The increasing word-finding difficulty is one of the most investigated characteristics of language ageing. The transmission deficit model postulates an age-related weakening in the pathway from lexicon to phonology, leading to insufficient priming of the complete phonology. To bring neurophysiological evidence of age-related modifications in word production, we investigated the inter-age time course of ERPs in picture naming compared to picture–word verification, where lexical–phonological processes are not involved. Only marginal age-related differences in RTs were found in picture naming. Older adults showed lower accuracy in picture naming, but higher accuracy in picture–word verification. Between-age ERP divergences were observed in an early time window associated with semantic processes. In picture naming, age differences in ERP amplitudes were also observed in a later time window compatible with phonological processing. Results suggest that modifications in word production could stem from age-related changes affecting the processing dynamics in the semantic system.

Keywords:

• ERP
• transmission deficit model
• word production
• ageing
• semantic processing

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Dr F.-X. Alario for his comments on an earlier version.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation to Marina Laganaro [grant number PP001-118969], [grant number PP00P1_140796]; and to Andrea Valente [grant number P2GEP1_152010].