Psychological Development and Education ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (5): 630-630.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2026.05.03

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The Decline of Imagery Processing in Performance Encoding is the Key Factor for the Decrease of the SPT Effect in the Elderly

MA Jialin, LEI Guili, LI Yongxin   

  1. School of Psychology, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004
  • Published:2026-09-12

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Abstract: The decline of the subject performed task (SPT) effect in the elderly may be related to the decrease in imagery processing ability. Therefore, the present study explored whether the decline in imagery processing contributes to the decreased SPT effect in the elderly people.In experiment 1, young and elderly people were asked to memorize verb-noun phrases using three encoding strategies: performance encoding, imagery encoding, and verbal encoding. Results indicated that elderly people showed a smaller SPT effect than young people under the imagery encoding condition, confirming that imagery processing significantly reduced the SPT effect in the elderly compared with the young people. Experiment 2, based on Experiment 1, added two additional encoding types, namely “performance+observation” and “imagery+observation”, to explore whether enhancing imagery processing could improve its the SPT effect.The results showed that the SPT effect was significantly enhanced in elderly people with the strengthening of imagery processing, whereas no such effect was observed in the young people. It was confirmed that compared with the young people, the enhancement of imagery processing could significantly improve the SPT effect in the elderly. In conclusion, the research confirmed that the decline in imagery processing in performance encoding is a key factor contributing to the decrease in SPT effect in the elderly.

Key words: elderly people, SPT effect, imagery encoding, performance encoding, observation of others’ performance

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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