McGinnis, D., & Zelinski, E. M. (2003). Understanding unfamiliar words in young, young-old, and old-old adults: Inferential processing and the abstraction-deficit hypothesis. Psychology and Aging, 18(3), 497-509.

McGinnis, D.; Zelinski, E.

2003

McGinnis, D., & Zelinski, E. M. (2003). Understanding unfamiliar words in young, young-old, and old-old adults: Inferential processing and the abstraction-deficit hypothesis. Psychology and Aging, 18(3), 497-509.

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Previous research suggests that older adults derive interpretations of unfamiliar words that are less precise than those of young adults (D. McGinnis & E. M. Zelinski, 2000). Thirty-one adults aged 18-37, 27 aged 65-74, and 28 aged 75-87 read passages containing unfamiliar words (1 per passage) and were asked to think aloud during reading. After reading each passage, participants selected meaning-relevant cues and rated the quality of 4 definition options. Compared with the 2 younger groups, the oldest group rated thematic and irrelevant definitions significantly higher, and their think-aloud protocols included more generalized inferences. Results pertaining to cue selection were not significant. Taken together, these results suggest that age differences in meaning derivation may be related to inferential processing that is overgeneralized, providing support for the abstraction-deficit hypothesis.

The results of this study suggest that age differences in unfamiliar word interpretation ma be associated with age-related changes in inferential processes. In this study, the inferences produces by young, young-old, and old-old adults differed qualitatively, with old-old adults producing nearly twice as many generalized inferences as young-old adults.

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