The role of associative deficits in sentence memory among older adults

Although language abilities are largely preserved with aging, older adults often show impaired sentence processing. The current research examined whether these deficits might be rooted in an inability to bind individual concepts together to create ideas. In three experiments, participants read a series of sentences (e.g., The electrician rescued the bird from the attic) in an online platform and then completed subsequent recognition tests for individual concepts (i.e., items; e.g., electrician, bird) and for ideas reflecting bindings among those concepts (i.e., associations; e.g., The electrician rescued the bird). In Experiment 1, in which the stimulus sentences were simple, older adults did not show the expected deficit in associative recognition relative to item recognition. In Experiment 2, in which the sentences contained more concepts and required more relational binding, results showed that older adults performed significantly worse on the associative recognition test relative to the item recognition test compared to younger adults, supporting the hypothesis that binding deficits contribute to age-related declines in sentence processing. To determine whether these deficits could be ameliorated through support of binding processes at encoding, Experiment 3 was conducted, in which participants read the same set of sentences used in Experiment 2 under explicit instructions on how to use a conceptual integration strategy to improve their memory for sentences. Results revealed that the conceptual integration strategy eliminated the age-related associative deficit among older adults, however, it hindered younger adults. Collectively, these studies suggest that deficits in conceptual binding may contribute to age differences in sentence comprehension and memory and that explicit instruction on how to use a conceptual integration strategy may be effective in reducing the associative deficit.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• McCall, Giavanna S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Christianson, Kiel
• Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A. L.
• Federmeier, Kara D
• Montag, Jessica L
• Napolitano, Christopher M

• Associative Deficit
• Binding
• Aging
• Sentence Comprehension
• Memory

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Giavanna McCall

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129289

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129289