Running head: AN EFFECT OF AGE ON IMPLICIT MEMORY 1 An effect of age on implicit memory that is not due to explicit contamination: Implications for single and multiple-systems theories Emma V. Ward, David R. Shanks, and Christopher, J. Berry University College London Author Note Emma V. Ward, David R. Shanks, and Christopher, J. Berry, Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London, England. This research was supported by an ESRC studentship award. We would like to thank Sara Garcia for help with data collection in Experiment 3, and Qizhang Sun for data collection in Experiments 4b and 5. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Emma V. Ward, Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP. E-mail:
[email protected] Running head: AN EFFECT OF AGE ON IMPLICIT MEMORY 2 Abstract Implicit memory tests often reveal facilitated processing of previously encountered stimuli even when they cannot be explicitly retrieved. For example, despite decrements in recognition memory, priming in healthy older adults is often comparable in magnitude to that in young individuals. Such observations are commonly taken as evidence for independent explicit and implicit memory systems. On a picture version of the continuous identification with recognition task (CID-R), we found a reliable age-related reduction in recognition memory while the effect on priming did not reach statistical significance (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 replicated these observations using separate priming (CID) and recognition (R) phases. However, when data are combined across experiments to increase power, we find that the reduction in priming reaches statistical significance.