Hazlitt, Janine Elizabeth2025-07-042025-07-042000https://hdl.handle.net/1828/22469Longitudinal changes in semantic memory performance of older adults were examined. Participants, drawn from the Victoria Longitudinal Study, consisted of 81 Young-Old (Mn = 62.89, range= 54 to 67 years) and 43 Old-Old (MT, = 71.28, range= 68 to 82 years) adults tested 5 times at 3-year intervals. Performance was indexed by measures of vocabulary, fact recall, 3 indicators of verbal fluency (opposites, similarities, figures of speech), and 2 indicators of verbal speed (semantic verification, lexical decision). Performance at time 1 was compared to 100 Young adults (Mn= 24.77, range= 19 to 36 years). The 2 older age groups performed similarly; however, age differences were observed between Young adults and older adults on all but opposites and similarities. Longitudinal results indicated modest but significant decline across 5 occasions for all tasks. There were interactions for fact recall, figures of speech, semantic verification, and lexical decision, showing more rapid decline for Old-Old adults.enAvailable to the World Wide WebThesis