Depression in Free-Word-Association Responses at Adolescence

Eighth graders gave 35% fewer free-word-association responses to 57 biology stimulus words than did younger (fourth- and sixth-grade) and older (high school and college) subjects. This depression in response frequency occurred in both sexes and was associated with an increased frequency of nonresponses. Younger students gave many playful responses and referents to daily life, whereas older student responses were strongly domain specific. Eighth graders gave few of the casual responses that were characteristic of younger children, yet they presumably lacked the domain-specific knowledge that was characteristic of older students. Their nonresponses occurred most often with the more difficult (less common) stimulus words.