The effect of ageing on confrontation naming in healthy older adults: a three-level meta-analysis

Older adults frequently report trouble retrieving words, which is often tested by confrontation naming tasks. However, with inconsistencies among the relevant literature, this ageing effect requires an updated meta-analysis (with the only meta-analysis conducted in 1997), especially when no meta-analysis has been conducted on how such an effect may be modulated by the important factor of education. By synthesizing 41 primary studies, the present meta-analysis revealed a significant ageing effect on confrontation naming (indexed by accuracy), which was modulated by participant age and education. First, a significant ageing effect only occurred in participants aged 70 and above (compared with participants below 60). Second, participants with low- and middle-level education exhibited significantly larger ageing effects than those with high-level education. Third, for the age-and-education interaction, an ageing effect occurred as early as 60 in participants in the low-and-middle education level, while this critical age for participants with high-level education is 70.