Behavioral results. a) Both groups performed better for counting than semantic fluency. Although there was no effect of age for accuracy in either task, older adults performed slower than young adults during semantic fluency but not during counting. b) Both groups performed better for easy than difficult semantic categories, and young adults better than older adults for easy semantic categories. Furthermore, young adults were generally faster in responding during semantic fluency than older adults, independent of difficulty level. Points show mean response times with 2 standard deviations, ^*P < 0.05.