Influence of Image Complexity on Confrontational Naming Across Age Groups

Purpose: Visual confrontation naming tasks are widely used to assess lexical retrieval across age groups. However, the nature of stimulus used-black-and-white drawings or colored photographs can influence naming. Method: This study assessed naming accuracy and latency in 120 neurotypical speakers (aged 12~75 years), of Tamil language, divided into four age groups. Thirty familiar highfrequency nouns were each represented as both a black-and-white line drawing and a colored photograph. A 2 × 4 mixed factorial design examined the effects of image type (within-subjects) and age group (between-subjects). Results: Naming accuracy did not differ significantly between image types across any age group. However, naming latency was significantly lower for black-and-white images in the younger (12~44 years) and older (61~75 years) groups, with no latency difference in the 45~60-year group. Item-wise analysis showed 18 of 30 items had significantly faster naming with black-and-white stimuli, with no item showing better accuracy for colored images. Conclusion: Blackand-white images promoted faster naming in most age groups without compromising accuracy. These results support using simple contour drawings in naming tasks, particularly for familiar nouns, and offer insights into age-related differences in visual processing and lexical access.