Reading: effects of aging on the interplay of knowledge and processing Grant uri icon

abstract

  • The activity of reading raises fundamental theoretical and practical questions about healthy cognitive aging. It relies greatly on knowledge of patterns of language and of meaning at the level of words and topics of text; and, this knowledge must be rapidly accessed so that it can be coordinated with the processes of perception, attention, memory and motor control that sustain skilled reading which occurs at a rate of four-to-five words a second. As such, reading depends both on crystallized semantic intelligence which grows or is maintained through healthy aging, and on components of fluid intelligence which decline with healthy aging. Reading is important to older adults because it facilitates completion of everyday tasks that are essential to independent living and because it entails the kind of active mental engagement that can preserve and deepen the cognitive reserve that may mitigate the negative consequences of age-related changes in the brain. The aims of the study, then, are to: (1) determine the manner in which aging affects the use of word knowledge during reading and (2) determine the manner in which aging effects sentence and discourse processing during reading. To address the first aim, we will evaluate alternative accounts of why characteristics of eye movements related to word recognition differ in older adults as compared to younger adults, focusing on the frequency of word skipping, the effect of word frequency on the time taken to recognize fixated words, and the frequency of regressive saccades. To address the second aim, alternative accounts of how the relationship between language and memory is affected by aging. This project takes an innovative approach to aging and reading by considering the nature of individual differences, characterization of online reading strategies, and characterization of the relationship between text comprehension and memory. When considering coordination of different levels of knowledge and processing during discourse processing and reading in older adults, we will better understand the different processes that change with advancing age; thus informing theories of reading, discourse, and cognitive aging.

date/time interval

  • July 2014 - June 2017