Variabilidad en el acceso al léxico en el envejecimiento normal

Variability between persons (diversity) in lexical access was examined in normal aging. Variability measures were based on performance of 141 volunteers aged from 19 to 92 years in an experimental task for producing tip of the tongue events (TOTs) and in two vocabulary tests (WAIS and Peabody). Data were subjected to a descriptive analysis based on maximum and minimum graphic representation, and to a polynomial regression analysis on age. Results indicated that variability increases with increasing aging in two of the used measures as RT of TOTs and Peabody scores but not in the frequency of TOTs and WAIS scores. These results are interpreted, in the light of the hypothesis of division of linguistic processing resources, as an increase of variability in the online but not in the off-line processes in aging. The findings are discussed with respect to the Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence theory in aging suggesting that variability increases for fluid factors but not for crystallized factors.