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Altered Oscillatory Neural Dynamics Related to Word Prediction in Older Adult Readers
Ryan J Hubbard1,2, Kara D Federmeier1,2,3
1Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
|January 23, 2025
Summary
Older adults show similar anticipatory brain activity (alpha-band) during language processing but have delayed and reduced cognitive control responses (frontal theta-band) to unexpected words compared to younger adults.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Predictive mechanisms in language comprehension facilitate processing.
- Neural oscillations, including alpha and theta bands, reflect anticipatory preparation and cognitive control.
- The impact of aging on these oscillatory dynamics during language processing is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in neural oscillatory activity during language comprehension.
- To examine how older adults' brain responses to expected and unexpected words differ from younger adults.
Main Methods:
- Re-analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) data from a sentence reading experiment.
- Focus on older adult participants to assess alpha-band and frontal theta-band activity.
- Comparison of oscillatory responses between older and younger adult groups.
Main Results:
- Older adults exhibited delayed and reduced frontal theta-band activity following unexpected words compared to younger adults.
- Alpha-band decreases preceding expected words were similar across age groups.
- Younger adults, but not older adults, showed a correlation between pre-stimulus alpha activity and post-stimulus theta response.
Conclusions:
- Older adults appear to engage anticipatory neural mechanisms for language processing similarly to younger adults.
- However, older adults demonstrate impaired cognitive control mechanisms in response to prediction errors during language comprehension.
- Aging may selectively affect the neural processes involved in error detection and resolution in language.
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