Age-Related Changes in Processing Explicit and Implicit Language

Abstract

After reading short prose passages, older (M = 66.5 years) and younger (M = 18.3 years) adults verified the meaning of a test sentence which represented either a paraphrase or an inference from the preceding passage. There were no age differences in accuracy of verification performance with immediate testing, but older subjects made significantly more errors on a delayed test. Verification latency was longer for inference than paraphrase test sentences for both age groups, and older subjects were slower than younger for both types of information. There was no evidence for a selective deficit in processing implicit versus explicit meaning. It was concluded that older persons may be deficient in the retention of meaningful information, but that this deficit is not based on an inability to comprehend linguistic meaning.