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Age‐related changes in the impact of contextual strength on multiple aspects of sentence comprehension
Author(s) -
Wlotko Edward W.,
Federmeier Kara D.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01366.x
Subject(s) - psychology , comprehension , reinterpretation , sentence , context (archaeology) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , negativity effect , sentence processing , information processing , cognition , linguistics , paleontology , philosophy , physics , neuroscience , acoustics , biology
Contextual information influences multiple aspects of language comprehension extended over time. To determine how age‐related changes impact normal comprehension, effects of contextual strength were examined with event‐related potentials. Increased contextual constraint facilitated semantic processing (reduced N 400s). Effects were smaller and delayed for older adults, and sensitivity to contextual information was diminished for weak contexts. Both groups elicited a later left‐lateralized frontal negativity associated with reinterpretation of context when multiple interpretations of a sentence were likely. Older adults evidenced the frontal negativity over a wider range of constraint. The change in the use of contextual information across age is attributed to decreased reliance on predictive processing for older adults. Thus, age‐related changes in comprehension lead to differential engagement of processing resources over time for older adults.