This grant proposes to use two relatively new techniques to study verbal acquisition and memory processes for meaningful connected speech in young and elderly subjects. Our goal is to elucidate those functions in the acquisition and retention of verbal information which may be most sensitive to decrements in normal aging versus those which often remain relatively intact. Of special interest is a better understanding of how these acquisition strategies and memory processes may potentially interact in a compensatory way. The first technique, spontaneous segmentation, is intended to shed light on individuals' acquisition strategies when they are allowed to control their own stimulus input, and the extent to which these strategies can interact, in a positive way, with overall memory performance. We will use this technique to examine aging effects on the way in which verbal information is ordinarily grouped as it is heard, the effects of the structure, complexity and familiarity of the speech on these groupings, and the way these factors influence effectiveness of recall. The second technique, time-compression, will be used to extend these studies to differential age effects for rapidly arriving verbal information, and the role of compensatory processing time in verbal comprehension and recall. We hope to develop critical data on variable effects of processing demands due to input rates of the speech, complexity of the speech content, and compensating effects of additional processing time for individual subjects within an aging population. This research could have a direct, and useful bearing, on our understanding of problems with the rapid intake and retention of information by the elderly. Such knowledge could offer a useful tool to educate the old (and the young with whom they interact), in more effective strategies to enhance their communicative potential; to take advantage of those functions that remain more intact, and hence to optimize their overall levels of performance.
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