Regardless of whether language is written or spoken, the input to the comprehender becomes available over time and temporally discontinuous parts of the input must be related to one another for language to be understood. Thus, language comprehension must involve a temporary store or working memory system. Some decrements in language comprehension have been hypothesized to be related to decrements in working memory capacity. Working memory capacity declines with age and this decline has in turn been related to reductions in other cognitive capacities, in particular the speed with which cognitive operations can be carried out. While WM, processing speed and language comprehension are certainly related in some way, the exact nature of the connections between them is not fully understood. A basic question is the extent to which changes in language processing, WM and speed of processing are unitary vs. the extent to which they can dissociate. Some aspects of language comprehension are greatly over practiced and may not be affected by WM limitations or processing speed reductions that appear in other verbal tasks. The proposed research will investigate the relationship between language comprehension, WM and speed of processing by characterizing and relating language comprehension (at the levels of sentences and discourse), WM and processing speed in elderly participants and AD patients. The research will mainly use behavioral approaches, but will also employ functional neuroimaging to provide a different source of data regarding these relationships.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG009661-13
Application #
6796133
Study Section
Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes 3 (BBBP)
Program Officer
Wagster, Molly V
Project Start
1997-05-01
Project End
2007-08-31
Budget Start
2004-09-01
Budget End
2005-08-31
Support Year
13
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$326,014
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Allied Health Profes
DUNS #
049435266
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02215
Evans, William S; Caplan, David; Ostrowski, Adam et al. (2015) Working memory and the revision of syntactic and discourse ambiguities. Can J Exp Psychol 69:136-55
Caplan, David; Dede, Gayle; Waters, Gloria et al. (2011) Effects of age, speed of processing, and working memory on comprehension of sentences with relative clauses. Psychol Aging 26:439-50
Evans, William S; Caplan, David; Waters, Gloria (2011) Effects of concurrent arithmetical and syntactic complexity on self-paced reaction times and eye fixations. Psychon Bull Rev 18:1203-11
Waters, Gloria; Caplan, David (2005) The relationship between age, processing speed, working memory capacity, and language comprehension. Memory 13:403-13
Waters, Gloria S; Caplan, David (2004) Verbal working memory and on-line syntactic processing: evidence from self-paced listening. Q J Exp Psychol A 57:129-63
DeDe, Gayle; Caplan, David; Kemtes, Karen et al. (2004) The relationship between age, verbal working memory, and language comprehension. Psychol Aging 19:601-16
Waters, G S; Caplan, D (2001) Age, working memory, and on-line syntactic processing in sentence comprehension. Psychol Aging 16:128-44
Caplan, D (2001) Functional neuroimaging studies of syntactic processing. J Psycholinguist Res 30:297-320
Rochon, E; Waters, G S; Caplan, D (2000) The relationship between measures of working memory and sentence comprehension in patients with Alzheimer's disease. J Speech Lang Hear Res 43:395-413
Caplan, D; Waters, G S (1999) Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension. Behav Brain Sci 22:77-94;discussion 95-126

Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications