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http://dx.doi.org/10.5392/JKCA.2018.18.11.527

Relationship between Alternating Attention and Context Use during Sentence Processing in Older and Younger Adults  

Park, Youngmi (동명대학교 언어치료학과)
Publication Information
The Journal of the Korea Contents Association / v.18, no.11, 2018 , pp. 527-539 More about this Journal
Abstract
Cognitive decline in aging is known to yield detrimental effects in syntactic processing and working memory capacity is the most crucial cognitive function in understanding older adults' sentence processing skills. This study examined how young and older adults utilize contextual information while resolving NP-attached Ps vis word-by-word self-paced reading paradigm. In addition, the study asked which cognitive functions play roles on the use of a NP-supporting context during processing of NP-attached PP. When NP-attached PP was presented in a supporting context, both age groups performed faster than in the null context condition. Among different cognitive functions, alternating attention skills were correlated with the ability utilizing context during syntactic ambiguity resolution and working memory capacity was not found to be crucial for this study. In conclusion, this study suggests that aging does not always affect older adults' syntactic processing negatively and relevant cognitive function may vary depending on the type of syntactic structure.
Keywords
Language in Aging; Reading; Syntactic Ambiguity; Context; Cognition;
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