Davis, G. A., & Ball, H. E. (1989). Effects of age on comprehension of complex sentences in adulthood. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 32(1), 143-150.

Davis, G.; Ball, H.

1989

Davis, G. A., & Ball, H. E. (1989). Effects of age on comprehension of complex sentences in adulthood. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 32(1), 143-150.

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Examined whether normal aging modifies a subsystem of comprehension (i.e, syntactic, semantic) or places unusual demand on working memory related to the distance between constituents that must be integrated. 75 healthy adults (aged 25-79 yrs) were questioned about thematic roles of nouns in sentences with center-embedded or right-branching subordinate clauses. Results indicate that comprehension accuracy declined after age 60 yrs. Although aging did not affect the semantic component, it did affect the syntactic component when evaluated with sentences representing implausible events. There appeared to be an effect of distance between constituents in the 70s decade that was not related solely to embedding of a subordinate clause. Instead of affecting a single component of the language system, normal aging may have an impact on interactions between components.

Results indicate that comprehension accuracy declined after age 60 yrs. Although aging did not affect the semantic component, it did affect the syntactic component when evaluated with sentences representing implausible events. There appeared to be an effect of distance between constituents in the 70s decade that was not related solely to embedding of a subordinate clause. Instead of affecting a single component of the language system, normal aging may have an impact on interactions between components.

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