Discourse Processing in Healthy Aging

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究计划的目标是确定话语过程中与年龄相关的变化是否与认知过程中与年龄相关的变化相对应，并测试有关成年人一生中话语处理的假设。语篇处理是语言处理中最复杂的形式，需要语言能力（例如，理解）以及语言表现（例如，生产）。有人认为，语言和认知的年龄相关变化是相关的。然而，对语篇加工中与年龄相关的变化缺乏全面系统的描述。拟议的研究计划将通过评估研究人员的综合话语处理模型来解决老龄化研究中的这一差距，该模型包括话语产生中涉及的多种语言成分和认知操作。拟议的研究计划的意义在于，它图表的话语过程和认知过程的变化在整个10岁年龄组（20 - 80）的成年人的寿命，并确定如何与年龄相关的认知功能的变化有助于与年龄相关的变化在句内和句间的过程。该项目的具体目标是：（1）确定整个生命周期中记忆和注意力的变化如何与叙事和程序性话语的能力和表现相关，（2）记录健康成年人群体中话语的哪个方面或哪些方面对衰老最敏感，以及（3）调查整个成年人生命周期中与年龄相关的叙事理解变化。结构方程模型将用于分析我们感兴趣的潜在变量（认知和语言处理）和感兴趣的显式变量（句子过程内部和之间，语言能力和记忆和注意力的标准化测量）之间的并发关系。为了解决第二个和第三个目标，我们开发了一系列子实验来回答我们感兴趣的问题;这些数据将使用经典ANOVA以及非参数（Wilcoxon）分析进行分析。这项研究的结果将为话语和认知老化的理论提供信息，并为与衰老障碍和获得性神经源性沟通障碍相关的沟通障碍患者的临床应用提供规范的数据库。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objectives of this research program are to determine whether age-related changes in discourse processes correspond to age-related changes in cognitive processes and to test hypotheses regarding discourse processing across the adult lifespan. Discourse processing is the most complex form of language processing and requires linguistic competence (e.g., comprehension) as well as linguistic performance (e.g., production). It has been suggested that age-related changes in language and cognition are related. However, a comprehensive and systematic description of age-related changes in discourse processing is lacking. The proposed research program will address this gap in aging research by evaluating the investigators' comprehensive discourse processing model that includes the multiple linguistic components and cognitive operations involved in discourse production. The significance of the proposed research program is that it charts change in discourse processes and cognitive processes across the adult lifespan in 10-year age cohorts (20s - 80s) and identifies how age-related changes in cognitive functions contribute to age-related changes in within-sentence and between-sentence processes. The specific aims of the proposed project are to: (1) determine how changes in memory and attention across the life span relate to competence and performance of narrative and procedural discourse, (2) document which aspect or aspects of discourse are most sensitive to aging in healthy adult cohorts, and (3) investigate age-related changes in comprehension of narratives across the adult lifespan. Structural equation modeling will be used to analyze the concurrent relationships between our latent variables of interest (cognition and linguistic processing) and manifest variables of interest (within and between sentence processes, linguistic competence and standardized measures of memory and attention). To address the second and third aims we have developed a series of subexperiments to answer our questions of interest; these data will be analyzed using classical ANOVAs as well as nonparametric (Wilcoxon) analyses. Results of this research will inform theories of discourse and cognitive aging as well as provide a normative database for clinical application to individuals with communication disorders associated with aging disorders and acquired neurogenic communication disorders.