Our ability to process and remember discourse is relatively spared with aging but can be compromised when the number of items in focus exceeds working memory so as to tax the ability to create a coherent mental model of the situation. Age differences in the use of contextual support, managing discourse focus, and situation model construction are considered.
The effects of aging on language comprehension are complex due to both the nature of the different processing levels in language and the nature of multidirectional changes in cognition with age. Older adults may show disadvantages in certain areas of language processing because of biological declines associated with normal aging that affect sensory processing and fluid abilities such as working memory capacity. However, preserved vocabulary, reading experience, and domain‐specific knowledge confer advantages in maintaining language comprehension.
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