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Published on: October 3, 2018
Age differences in sentence production
Susan Kemper1, Ruth Herman, Cindy Lian
1Gerontology Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045, USA. Skemper@KU.edu
Summary
Older adults show language production declines, especially with complex tasks. Cognitive aging affects sentence complexity and accuracy, with slower response times observed in both experiments.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience of Aging
Background:
- Language production abilities can change with age.
- Understanding age-related differences in cognitive functions like language is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in language production.
- To examine how task complexity and verb type influence sentence composition in older adults.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments using controlled laboratory conditions.
- Experiment 1: Sentence composition with varying word counts (2-4 words).
- Experiment 2: Sentence composition using different verb types (intransitive, transitive, complement-taking).
Main Results:
- Older adults produced fewer errors and more elaborate sentences with 2-3 words but struggled with 4 words.
- Older adults generated simpler sentences and made more errors with complement-taking verbs compared to young adults.
- Both experiments revealed slower response times in older adults.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive aging impacts language production, particularly with increased task complexity and specific linguistic structures.
- Older adults exhibit compensatory strategies but still face challenges in complex language tasks.
- Age-related slowing in cognitive processing is evident in language production.
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