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Age-Related Changes in Implicit Causality and Consequentiality Pronoun Biases
Amanda Rose Yuile1, Joshua K Hartshorne1
1Communication Sciences and Disorders, MGH Institute of Health Professions, USA.
Journal of Child Language
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Pronoun resolution biases, including implicit causality and consequentiality, improve through childhood and into adulthood. These cognitive skills continue developing into early adulthood, with no decline observed in older adults.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Adults often resolve pronouns based on implicit causality (cause) or implicit consequentiality (effect) in sentences.
- Understanding pronoun resolution biases is key to comprehending language processing and cognitive development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in implicit causality and implicit consequentiality pronoun biases.
- To analyze developmental trajectories of pronoun resolution strategies from childhood to older adulthood.
Main Methods:
- Re-analysis of data from two large-scale cross-sectional studies (N=3626) of native English speakers.
- Participants ranged in age from 8 to 81 years.
- Examined pronoun resolution patterns in sentences designed to elicit implicit causality and consequentiality.
Main Results:
- Both implicit causality and consequentiality pronoun biases showed significant developmental improvements from childhood to early adulthood.
- Implicit causality effects demonstrated a longer developmental maturation period extending into adulthood.
- No significant decline in pronoun bias was observed in older adults, though variability increased after age 65.
Conclusions:
- The cognitive representations supporting pronoun resolution biases continue to develop into adulthood.
- Language processing abilities related to causality and consequentiality show sustained development and stability in later life.
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