On-line processing of written text by younger and older adults

Word-by-word reading times were measured for young and elderly adults who read single sentences for immediate recall. The reading strategies of young and old were similar in that both groups allocated time to process word-level and constituent-level features. Young and elderly readers differed mainly in how they allocated time for organizational processing: Whereas younger adults allocated extra processing time at sentence boundaries as well as at major and minor clause boundaries, older adults allocated extra time at major and minor clause boundaries only. Results were generally consistent with the notions that processes that are more microlevel (e.g., word access) become automatic with practice and that age deficits are minimal for such processes. Age differences in organization time allocated at clause boundaries, however, suggested age-related limitations in working memory processing.