Effects of age, working memory, and word order on passive-sentence comprehension: evidence from a verb-final language. (22nd February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sung, Jee Eun; Yoo, Jae Keun; Lee, Soo Eun; Eom, Bora
• Is Part Of: International psychogeriatrics. Volume 29:Number 6(2017:Jun.)
• Page Start: 939
• Page End: 948
• Publication Date: 2017-02-22
• Subjects: working-memory capacity, -- aging, -- sentence comprehension, -- canonicity of word order; Geriatric psychiatry -- Periodicals; 618.9768905
• DOI: 10.1017/S1041610217000047
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1041-6102

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of working-memory (WM) capacity on age-related changes in abilities to comprehend passive sentences when the word order was systematically manipulated. Methods: A total of 134 individuals participated in the study. The sentence-comprehension task consisted of the canonical and non-canonical word-order conditions. A composite measure of WM scores was used as an index of WM capacity. Results: Participants exhibited worse performance on sentences with non-canonical word order than canonical word order. The two-way interaction between age and WM was significant, suggesting that WM effects were greater than age effects on the task. Conclusions: WM capacity effects on passive-sentence comprehension increased dramatically as people aged, suggesting that those who have larger WM capacity are less vulnerable to age-related changes in sentence-comprehension abilities. WM capacity may serve as a cognitive reserve associated with sentence-comprehension abilities for elderly adults.