Older adults have consistently been found to perform more poorly on memory tasks than young adults. This age-related difference in memory has been attributed to decreased ability to understand language. However, very little is known about language comprehension in older adults. The goal of the proposed research is to explore age-related changes in cognitive operations that are essential for understanding and remembering language. We examine the utilization of semantic and pragmatic knowledge during on-line comprehension of language, the role of working memory in comprehension processes, and the relation between initial comprehension and subsequent retention in young and older adults. Thus, we are concerned with mental processes that are critical components of the everyday activities of understanding spoken conversation or written text and remembering what has been understood. Twelve experiments are proposed which explore processes involved in understanding written and spoken discourse as well as in subsequent retention of discourse. The experiments are designed to answer four broad questions. (1) Do young and older adults differ in their ability to use prior linguistic context to specify meanings of words during comprehension of language? (2) Are there age-related differences in ability to draw logical and invited inferences from sentences? (3) Are young and older adults differentially affected by heavy demands on working memory during language comprehension? (4) Can age-related differences in comprehension account for age-related differences in retention?
| Patterson, Meredith M; Light, Leah L; Van Ocker, Jeffrey C et al. (2009) Discriminating semantic from episodic relatedness in young and older adults. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 16:535-62 |
| Chung, Christie; Light, Leah L (2009) Effects of age and study repetition on plurality discrimination. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 16:446-60 |
| Prull, Matthew W; Dawes, Leslie L Crandell; Martin 3rd, A McLeish et al. (2006) Recollection and familiarity in recognition memory: adult age differences and neuropsychological test correlates. Psychol Aging 21:107-18 |
| Light, Leah L; Chung, Christie; Pendergrass, Regina et al. (2006) Effects of repetition and response deadline on item recognition in young and older adults. Mem Cognit 34:335-43 |
| Healy, Michael R; Light, Leah L; Chung, Christie (2005) Dual-process models of associative recognition in young and older adults: evidence from receiver operating characteristics. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 31:768-88 |
| Light, Leah L; Patterson, Meredith M; Chung, Christie et al. (2004) Effects of repetition and response deadline on associative recognition in young and older adults. Mem Cognit 32:1182-93 |
| Light, Leah L; Kennison, Robert F; Healy, Michael R (2002) Bias effects in word fragment completion in young and older adults. Mem Cognit 30:1204-18 |
| Light, L L; Kennison, R; Prull, M W et al. (1996) One-trial associative priming of nonwords in young and older adults. Psychol Aging 11:417-30 |
| Light, L L; La Voie, D; Kennison, R (1995) Repetition priming of nonwords in young and older adults. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 21:327-46 |
| Light, L L; LaVoie, D; Valencia-Laver, D et al. (1992) Direct and indirect measures of memory for modality in young and older adults. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 18:1284-97 |
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