Aging, narrative organization, presentation mode, and referent choice strategies

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Linguistics

Background:

• Pronoun resolution relies on integrating multiple linguistic and contextual cues.
• Working memory capacity influences the ability to process complex information and resolve ambiguity.
• Age-related cognitive changes can affect executive functions, including working memory and attention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate age-related differences in referent choice strategies for ambiguous pronouns.
• To examine the impact of narrative organization and presentation mode on working memory load.
• To determine how cognitive load affects the use of thematic, foreground, and recency cues in pronoun resolution.

Main Methods:

• Participants (young and older adults) read short narratives with manipulated critical sentences (congruent/incongruent).
• A "Memory" presentation mode (target sentence isolated) was used to tax working memory.
• Referent choice for an ambiguous pronoun in the subsequent sentence was recorded.

Main Results:

• Younger readers maintained consistent referent choice strategies regardless of presentation mode.
• Older readers showed less consistent referent choice, especially with the Memory presentation.
• When working memory was not taxed, older readers employed strategies similar to younger readers.

Conclusions:

• The Memory presentation mode interferes with older adults' consistent use of narrative cues for pronoun resolution.
• Cognitive load, particularly when it taxes working memory, disproportionately affects older adults' referent choice strategies.
• Age-related working memory limitations may explain difficulties in resolving ambiguous pronouns under demanding cognitive conditions.