Effects of aging on word position encoding in Chinese reading

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Linguistics

Background:

• Young adults show flexible word position coding during reading.
• Aging may affect reading flexibility due to visual and cognitive changes.
• Chinese reading lacks explicit word boundaries, potentially impacting position coding.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate age-related differences in word position coding flexibility.
• To examine the transposed-word effect in young and older adults during Chinese reading.
• To determine if aging reduces the flexibility of word position encoding.

Main Methods:

• Participants: Young and older adults.
• Task: Rapid grammaticality decision on sentences with transposed words and control sentences.
• Analysis: Comparison of response times and error rates between age groups and conditions.

Main Results:

• Both age groups showed the transposed-word effect, indicating preserved coding flexibility.
• Young adults exhibited a more pronounced transposed-word effect than older adults.
• Older adults demonstrated reduced flexibility in word position coding compared to young adults.

Conclusions:

• The flexibility of word position coding is maintained across adulthood.
• Older adults show a reduction in this flexibility compared to younger adults in Chinese reading.
• Findings highlight age-related changes in reading processing, particularly for languages with fluid word boundaries.