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Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment
Published on: June 25, 2019
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Preserved context sensitivity in language production: Lexical differentiation in older adults
Si On Yoon1, Abigayle Shekleton2, Daphna Heller3
1Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University.
Psychology and Aging
|September 29, 2025
Summary
Older adults demonstrate strong language skills, showing equal or greater lexical differentiation than younger adults. This highlights their communicative expertise and adaptability in language production despite age-related cognitive changes.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Aging
- Language Production
Background:
- Aging is linked to cognitive decline, especially memory, affecting language.
- Older adults maintain crystallized intelligence, reflecting accumulated knowledge.
- Lexical differentiation, using modified expressions for referents, is a key area of language production.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate lexical differentiation in older adults.
- To test memory-based vs. communication-based views of language production in aging.
- To understand how aging impacts context-sensitive language use.
Main Methods:
- Compared lexical differentiation in older and younger adults.
- Analyzed the use of prenominal and postnominal modifiers.
- Examined referential phenomena in language production tasks.
Main Results:
- Older adults showed similar overall lexical differentiation and more prenominal modification than younger adults.
- Older adults produced more postnominal modifiers, indicating different planning strategies.
- Findings support the communication-based view of language production in older adults.
Conclusions:
- Older adults exhibit robust language production abilities, challenging simple memory-decline models.
- Linguistic and communicative expertise contribute to lexical differentiation in aging.
- Aging influences language use adaptively, particularly in context-sensitive communication.
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