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Updated: Jan 13, 2026
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An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing
Published on: October 25, 2019
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Aging, Cognitive Efficiency, and Lifelong Learning: Impacts on Simple and Complex Sentence Production During
Silvia D'Ortenzio1, Francesco Petriglia1, Giulia Gasparotto1
1Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Udine, Via Margreth, 3, 33100 Udine, Italy.
Brain Sciences
|October 29, 2025
Summary
Healthy aging impacts sentence production, leading to more grammatical errors and simpler sentences, especially after age 70. Lifelong learning (LLL) may help older adults maintain language abilities.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Healthy aging can affect cognitive functions and language production.
- Understanding age-related changes in sentence complexity and grammatical accuracy is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how healthy aging influences sentence production in narrative discourse.
- To examine the role of cognitive abilities and lifelong learning (LLL) in mitigating age-related language decline.
Main Methods:
- 307 Italian-speaking adults (26-89 years) completed a narrative task and cognitive assessments.
- Analyzed morphological errors, word omissions, and syntactic complexity (e.g., complete, subordinate, passive sentences).
- Assessed verbal working memory, sustained attention, and inhibitory control.
Main Results:
- Aging correlated with increased morphological/morphosyntactic errors and reduced syntactic complexity, particularly after age 70.
- Lifelong learning (LLL) showed a negative association with grammatical errors and a positive association with sentence production.
- Cognitive abilities like verbal working memory and sustained attention partially explained specific language decline patterns.
Conclusions:
- Aging affects both simple and complex sentence production, with declines linked to morphological errors and omissions.
- Lifelong learning (LLL) may buffer against grammatical declines, highlighting the role of educational engagement in maintaining syntactic abilities.
- Clinical assessment of complex sentence production and consideration of LLL can aid in diagnosing and intervening in language disorders in older adults.
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