TY - JOUR
T1 - When more is less
T2 - Failure to compress discourse with re-telling in normal ageing
AU - Saling, Lauren
AU - Laroo, Natasha
AU - Saling, Michael M.
N1 - Imported on 12 Apr 2017 - DigiTool details were: month (773h) = January, 2012; Journal title (773t) = Acta Psychologica. ISSNs: 0001-6918;
PY - 2012/1
Y1 - 2012/1
N2 - When young adults tell the same story repeatedly, their narratives become progressively more concise. Although impaired discourse production has been reliably demonstrated in the elderly, changes in narrative production with repetition have not been investigated in this cohort. Thirty young (aged 18'49 years, M = 28.77, SD = 9.73) and thirty elderly (aged 65 + years, M = 73.57, SD = 6.80) adults completed a discourse production task involving narrative construction using an eight-frame cartoon. Narratives were repeated 4 consecutive times. Variables analysed were narrative duration, word count and fluency (words/sec). For all variables the compression index for the elderly group was significantly lower than that for young participants. Further, compared to their younger counterparts, elderly adults were less able to improve the cohesion of their narratives with repetition. These findings suggest that the elderly have a reduced capacity to generate and refine discourse representations.
AB - When young adults tell the same story repeatedly, their narratives become progressively more concise. Although impaired discourse production has been reliably demonstrated in the elderly, changes in narrative production with repetition have not been investigated in this cohort. Thirty young (aged 18'49 years, M = 28.77, SD = 9.73) and thirty elderly (aged 65 + years, M = 73.57, SD = 6.80) adults completed a discourse production task involving narrative construction using an eight-frame cartoon. Narratives were repeated 4 consecutive times. Variables analysed were narrative duration, word count and fluency (words/sec). For all variables the compression index for the elderly group was significantly lower than that for young participants. Further, compared to their younger counterparts, elderly adults were less able to improve the cohesion of their narratives with repetition. These findings suggest that the elderly have a reduced capacity to generate and refine discourse representations.
U2 - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.10.005
DO - 10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.10.005
M3 - Article
SN - 0001-6918
VL - 139
SP - 220
EP - 224
JO - Acta Psychologica
JF - Acta Psychologica
IS - 1
ER -