Examining age-related changes in knowledge use during language comprehension using brain electrophysiology

Prior work has shown that general event knowledge can be rapidly used during language comprehension and shapes word understanding. However, little is known about how this use of event knowledge might be affected by normal aging, which is associated with increases in world knowledge but also decreases in processing speed. In the current study, the N400, an event-related potential component linked to meaning access, was measured as younger and older adult participants read short descriptions of real-world scenarios that ended with the most predictable word or one of two types of contextually anomalous words, either related or unrelated to the larger event being described. Results from younger adults replicated Metusalem et al. (2012): N400s were reduced to predictable compared to anomalous words and, among anomalous words, were reduced for those related to the larger event compared to unrelated anomalies. Older adults also showed N400 reductions for predictable compared to anomalous words, but they did not show N400 facilitation for event-related compared to unrelated anomalies. Thus, whereas young adults seem to broadly activate and maintain information about the event being described, even when that information is not relevant for the unfolding language sequence, older adults do not. However, older adults did differentiate the two types of anomalous words in a later time window encompassing the Late Positive Complex, indicating that they appreciated the event-relatedness of the words more slowly, in a perhaps more explicit manner. These results thus show that the use of event knowledge during language comprehension is impacted by normal aging.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Myers, Rachel C.A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Federmeier, Kara D.

• Aging
• Language Comprehension
• Plasticity
• Event Knowledge
• Electrophysiology
• Electroencephalogram
• Eeg

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Rachel Myers

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125635

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125635