ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报, 2020, 52(5): 541-561 doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.00541

研究报告

语言能力的老化机制:语言特异性与非特异性因素的共同作用

吴翰林, 于宙, 王雪娇, 张清芳,

中国人民大学心理学系, 北京 100872

Language processing in normal aging: Contributions of information-universal and information-specific factors

WU Hanlin, YU Zhou, WANG Xuejiao, ZHANG Qingfang,

Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China

通讯作者: 张清芳, E-mail:qingfang.zhang@ruc.edu.cn

第一联系人:

† 吴翰林和于宙为共同第一作者。

收稿日期: 2019-09-16   网络出版日期: 2020-05-25

基金资助: * 北京市社会科学基金重点项目.  16YYA006
中国人民大学科学研究基金项目(中央高校基本科研业务费专项)项目资助.  18XNLG28
中国人民大学中央高校建设世界一流大学(学科)和特色发展引导专项资金支持

Received: 2019-09-16   Online: 2020-05-25

摘要

语言能力的衰退是由于一般认知能力衰退引起的, 还是由于语言加工系统的衰退引起的, 抑或是两者的共同作用?研究中测量了青年组和老年组的一般认知能力(加工速度、工作记忆和抑制能力), 以及在词汇、句子和语篇三个水平上的语言理解能力和语言产生能力。结果发现, 一般认知能力、语言理解和语言产生能力都存在年老化现象。分层回归分析表明, 一般认知能力对语言能力的贡献, 以及语言理解能力和产生能力之间的相互贡献在青年组和老年组中是不同的, 且存在词汇、句子和语篇水平上的差异。在词汇水平上, 青年人的成绩能够被一般认知能力和另一种语言能力所显著预测, 而老年人的成绩却不受一般认知因素影响; 在句子水平上, 青年人的成绩仍能被一般认知能力或另一种语言能力所解释, 但这两类变量都无法预测老年人的任务成绩; 在语篇水平上, 青年人理解任务的成绩显著地受到产生能力影响, 而老年人的理解和产生任务成绩则分别可以被一般认知能力和语言理解能力所解释。对组间差异的回归分析表明, 一般认知能力和另一种语言能力对组间差异都有显著贡献, 且前者的贡献大于后者。上述研究结果表明, 语言能力的老化是语言特异性因素和非特异性因素共同作用的结果。

关键词: 认知年老化 ; 一般认知能力 ; 语言理解能力 ; 语言产生能力 ; 语言特异性 ; 语言非特异性

Abstract

Language is a complex lifelong faculty supported by the general cognitive system as well as the dynamic interactions between comprehension and production processes within the language system. Studies reported that while normal aging impairs important aspects of language production, most core processes of comprehension are robust. However, accumulating evidence suggests a decline in comprehension when comparing older adults with young ones. Thus it is plausible to assume that there might be a general degradation in older adults’ language capacity. The information-universal theories assume that the aging of language is contributed by the declines in general cognitive abilities including processing speed, working memory and inhibitory function, while the information-specific theories highlight the unique changes of linguistic representations and their connections in the brain, which may result in decreased interplay between comprehension and production.
The current study investigated the relationships among language comprehension capacity, production capacity, and general cognitive abilities, and explored the factors that influence the aging of language processing. We employed two groups of participants (103 young adults and 114 older adults), and measured their general cognitive abilities and language capacities with different tasks. General cognitive abilities were assessed in three dimensions: processing speed by color judgment and numerical judgment tasks, working memory by digit span forward and backward tasks, and inhibitory function by STROOP color-word judgment task. Language comprehension and production capacities were measured at word, sentence and discourse processing levels, respectively.
We first compared the performance between the two age groups, and then conducted hierarchical regression analyses to examine the contributions of information-universal and information-specific factors to language performance. Results showed lower scores in older adults than their young counterparts on all measures. The first hierarchical regression analyses revealed that there were differences between the older and the young groups, which presented not only in the contributions of general cognitive abilities to language capacities but also in the contributions of comprehension and production capacities to each other. For word processing, young adults’ performance was predicted by both general cognitive abilities and the other language capacities, while the former did not predict older adults’ performance; for sentence processing, young adults’ performance was predicted by general cognitive abilities (only in comprehension) and the other language capacities, while neither of them explained older adults’ performance; for discourse processing, young adults’ comprehension scores were predicted by their production capacity, while older adults’ scores of comprehension and production were predicted by their general cognitive abilities and comprehension capacity respectively. Results of the second hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both general cognitive abilities and the other language capacities contributed to the group differences in language performance, and the contributions of the former were larger than those of the latter.
In sum, older adults show an overall age-related decline in general cognitive abilities, language comprehension and production capacities. We suggest that the aging of language processing is subject to both the information- universal factor as well as the information-specific factor, with the former reflected as the general degradation in cognitive abilities and the latter related to specific changes in the architecture of language system.

Keywords: cognitive aging ; general cognitive abilities ; language comprehension ; language production ; information- universal factor ; information-specific factor

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本文引用格式

吴翰林, 于宙, 王雪娇, 张清芳. 语言能力的老化机制:语言特异性与非特异性因素的共同作用. 心理学报[J], 2020, 52(5): 541-561 doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.00541

WU Hanlin, YU Zhou, WANG Xuejiao, ZHANG Qingfang. Language processing in normal aging: Contributions of information-universal and information-specific factors. Acta Psychologica Sinica[J], 2020, 52(5): 541-561 doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.00541

1 前言

语言认知加工包括语言理解和语言产生两种过程。语言理解是以感知语言的形式为基础, 提取通达其意义的过程; 语言产生则是以讲话者想表达的思想或概念为基础, 提取语言的行为并进行表达的过程(Pickering & Garrod, 2013)。传统的心理语言学研究认为, 语言理解和产生是两种独立的加工过程(Gaskell, 2007; Harley, 2008), 研究者分别采取不同的方法研究这两种过程, 发现其具有不同的神经基础(Ben Shalon & Poeppel, 2008; Saur et al., 2008)。例如, 研究者认为个体理解歧义句的过程, 与描述一幅图画时产生歧义句的过程是完全不同的。神经语言学领域中经典的利希海姆-布洛卡-威尔尼克(Lichtheim-Broca-Wernicke)模型认为, 语言产生和语言理解涉及到独立的认知神经机制, 这一结论来自于有关失语症的研究(Shalom & Poeppel, 2008), 这表明个体的语言理解和产生过程是可以相互分离的。

尽管如此, 我们可以看到两类加工过程中所涉及的表征都包括了概念、语义、字形、音韵等不同水平上的信息, 因此这两类语言加工过程存在密切的联系。Pickering和Garrod (2013)提出了语言产生与理解的整合理论, 认为任何语言加工都同时包含这两种过程。尽管大多数心理语言学实验仅关注理解或产生过程中的一种, 但被试在完成实验时却需要理解和产生同时参与。例如, 在口语词汇产生研究经常使用的图画-词汇干扰范式中, 就包括了词汇理解和词汇产生两种过程。在这一范式中, 同时给被试呈现干扰词和图片, 被试的任务是忽略干扰词, 准确而迅速地说出图片的名称。干扰词的加工是词汇理解过程, 目标任务(即图画命名)是词汇产生过程。研究发现, 干扰词与图画名称之间的语义和语音相关关系会显著地影响命名潜伏期, 这表明词汇理解过程影响了词汇产生过程(Schriefers, Meyer, & Levelt, 1990)。类似地, 在词汇命名(Strain, Patterson, & Seidenberg, 1995)、句子完成(Bock & Miller 1991)、词汇识别(Ito, Tiede, & Ostry, 2009)等实验任务中, 理解与产生的过程均同时存在。事实上, 语言理解和语言产生相互影响的特性使得二者能够相互促进。一方面, 当进行产生活动时, 个体通过理解来监控自己的外部言语(即外部自我监控)和内部言语(即内部自我监控) (Levelt, 1989); 另一方面, 当进行理解活动时, 个体通过产生来预测即将出现的词汇、句法和语义信息(Pickering & Garrod, 2007)。因此, 语言理解能力较强的个体很可能能够产生更高质量的语言, 而语言产生能力更强的个体在理解语言时也可能更容易。也就是说, 个体的语言理解能力和语言产生能力之间存在相互影响。

在认知年老化领域, 已有研究多集中于对注意或记忆等过程的考察, 语言加工老化是一个新的研究主题。目前的研究中, 大多数仅关注了口语词汇产生过程的老化现象及认知机制(Shafto & Tyler, 2014)。事实上, 最新研究发现语言理解过程也存在老化, 老年人的语言理解和语言产生能力与青年人相比都出现显著了的衰退。与此同时, 老年人的一般认知能力也表现出衰退。已有研究都是单独考察这两个方面的影响, 尚未有研究同时考察一般认知能力和语言特异性能力的衰退对于语言能力老化的影响。基于上述研究现状, 本研究首次同时考察上述两方面的因素对语言理解和语言产生能力老化的贡献。我们首先比较青年人和老年人的语言理解能力和语言产生能力是否存在差异, 然后探索这种差异的影响因素是语言特异性的还是语言非特异性的, 并通过回归分析确定其贡献率。

1.1 语言能力的老化

人类的口语产生能力在60岁以后开始随着年龄的增长而衰退, 主要表现为:与青年人相比, 老年人提取单词的潜伏期更长且存在更多的提取失败现象。与此同时, 研究发现老年人的语言理解能力保持相对完整, 词汇知识甚至比青年人更加丰富(Shafto & Tyler, 2014)。研究发现, 语言产生能力的衰退是非对称性的(asymmetric):老年人的语义提取能力保持相对完好(Burke & College, 1997; Kemper, 1992a), 但是语音提取方面出现了明显的衰退, 表现为更频繁的舌尖效应(Tip-Of-the-Tongue effect, TOT effect) (Burke, MacKay, Worthley, & Wade, 1991; James & Burke, 2000; Rastle & Burke, 1996; Shafto, Burke, Stamatakis, Tam, & Tyler, 2007; White & Abrams, 2002)。出现这种现象是因为个体能够提取目标词的语义信息或特征, 但未能充分激活其音韵形式, 因而不能说出确切的单词, 只能提供单词的部分音韵信息。研究者对此提出了激活不充分假设, 认为这种现象是由于个体大脑中语义系统和语音系统之间的联结减弱所导致的(Burke & Shafto, 2004; Taylor & Burke, 2002), 其神经机制与一般的记忆提取失败是不同的(Huijbers et al., 2016)。也有研究者对此提出了干扰假设, 认为与目标词有关的单词抑制了目标词的产生, 从而导致了TOT。例如, 研究发现在语音相关条件下会发生更多的TOT (Jones & Langford, 1987)。这两类理论分别从激活“目标词的语言信息”和排除“干扰信息”的角度对口语产生的认知年老化机制进行了阐述, 前者认为口语产生的年老化与语言特点有关, 表现出语言特异性; 后者认为年老化是由于一般认知能力的衰退所导致的, 表现出语言非特异性。

最近的一些研究发现, 老年人的语义加工能力发生了衰退。Britt, Ferrara和Mirman (2016)在图画命名任务中发现, 当图片名称具有相近语义邻近词时, 老年人的命名反应时显著长于年轻人, 但在图片名称具有可替代词的条件下未出现老化效应。Valente和Laganaro (2015)发现, 在图片命名任务中老年人的反应时比青年人更长(边缘显著), 准确率更低, 但在词汇-图片再认任务中, 老年人的准确率却高于青年人。ERP结果显示, 在两种任务中老年人与青年人在早期语义加工阶段平均波幅具有差异, 同时, 在图片命名任务中老年人在后期语音加工阶段也与青年人具有差异。这表明老年人语义系统内部节点的联结可能也出现了与青年人不同的模式。

1.2 语言能力老化的影响因素

老年人的语言加工能力出现了不同程度的衰退, 而这种衰退在语言理解和产生两种过程中的表现模式不同, 导致这一现象的原因包括了语言非特异性和语言特异性两方面的因素。

1.2.1 语言非特异性因素

大量研究认为, 老年人语言能力的衰退是由于一般认知能力(语言非特异性)衰退所导致的。研究者对此提出了三类理论——加工速度理论、工作记忆理论和抑制缺陷理论, 分别认为个体的加工速度、工作记忆和抑制能力影响了其语言任务的表现。

加工速度理论(Salthouse, 1996)认为, 认知衰退的主要原因是个体进行认知加工的速度减慢。来自语言理解和产生领域的证据都表明, 语言加工的速率随着年龄的增长而降低。例如, 老年人阅读句子时识别词汇的速度显著慢于青年人(Kliegl, Grabner, Rolfs, & Engbert, 2004; Rayner, Reichle, Stroud, Williams, & Pollatsek, 2006; Stine-Morrow, Ryan, & Sandra Leonard, 2000); 命名图片时, 老年人的命名潜伏期显著长于青年人(Poon & Fozard, 1978; Morrison, Hirsh, Chappell, & Ellis, 2002)。老年人加工速度的下降引起了语言加工过程变慢, 潜伏期延长。

工作记忆是对当前工作信息进行存储和操作的认知系统(Baddeley, 1992)。大量研究表明, 工作记忆在语言活动中起着至关重要的作用(e.g., Adams & Gathercole, 2000; Baddeley, 2003; Daneman & Merikle, 1996; Ellis, 1996; Gathercole & Baddeley, 2014; Just & Carpenter, 2013; Martin, Shelton, & Yaffee, 1994; Montgomery, 1995; Nation, Adams, Bowyer-Crane, & Snowling, 1999)。随着年龄的增长, 个体的工作记忆能力有下降的趋势(e.g., Reuter- Lorenz & Sylvester, 2005; Salthouse, 1994), 尤其是获取新信息和保持原有信息的能力(Swanson, 1999)。研究发现, 工作记忆功能的损伤解释了年龄增长所带来的语言能力损伤(例如语篇理解能力的损伤) (de Beni, Borella, & Carretti, 2007; Kemper, 1992a), 训练言语工作记忆能有效地提高语言能力, 改善语言任务的成绩, 包括言语流畅性任务, 句子回忆任务, 以及复杂句理解任务等(Payne, 2014)。

抑制缺陷理论(Inhibitory Deficit Theory, IDT)认为, 老年人抑制能力的减弱是包括语言能力在内的各种认知能力下降的主要原因。Hasher和Zacks (1988)提出, 老年人抑制无关信息的能力下降, 这使得与当前任务无关的信息进入工作记忆并得到持续的激活, 这就阻碍了一部分与任务相关信息的获取, 使得工作效率降低。研究表明, 抑制能力的缺陷对语言理解和产生过程都具有重要影响(Burke & College, 1997)。在语言理解方面, 老年人在识别具有大量邻近词汇(lexical neighbor)的单词时比青年人更加困难(Taler, Aaron, Steinmetz, & Pisoni, 2010), 而且这种困难可以被抑制能力的差异所解释(Sommers & Danielson, 1999)。在语言产生方面, 老年人在产生语篇时会出现更多的冗余语言, 而且缺乏重点和连贯性(Bortfeld, Leon, Bloom, Schober, & Brennan, 2001)。这种偏题现象正是由于抑制无关信息的能力下降所导致的(Arbuckle & Gold, 1993)。

综上, 一般认知能力在语言加工中可能起着重要作用, 这些能力的老化可能导致了语言能力的衰退。在本研究中, 我们分别针对这三个方面的一般认知能力, 采取相应的任务进行测量(具体描述见方法部分)。

1.2.2 语言特异性因素

老年人语言能力的衰退可能是语言特异性的, 受到语言学变量的影响。从认知加工资源的角度来讲, 研究发现语言活动的某些方面并不受一般认知资源限制。例如在句子理解任务中, 言语工作记忆资源的多少并不影响被试对句法信息的加工(Caplan & Waters, 1999, 2005; Waters & Caplan, 1996, 2001)。采用脑电和脑磁技术的研究发现, 语言信息加工的最初阶段具有自动化的特点, 这可能是因为大脑中语言记忆的神经回路高度互联互通, 即便在认知资源极其有限的条件下, 这些记忆也能得到充分激活(Shtyrov, 2010)。

激活不充分假设即认为, 老年人语言产生能力的衰退是由于语言系统中语义层面和音韵层面(或正字法层面)之间的联结减弱导致的。在汉语口语词汇产生方面, 杨群和张清芳(2015)发现, 老年人的图画命名潜伏期长于青年人, 老年人的词频效应和音节频率效应大于青年人, 且老年人中存在词频和音节频率的交互作用, 而在青年组中却未观察到。这表明, 随着年龄增长语言学信息之间的作用模式发生了变化。另外, 与青年人相比老年人在书写过程中存在更多的提笔忘字现象。MacKay和Abrams (1998)发现, 在听觉呈现词汇时老年人更有可能产生拼写错误。当要求老年人和青年人判断视觉呈现的词汇拼写是否正确时, 二者表现出了同样的准确性; 而当要求他们写出刚刚看过的词汇时, 老年人表现出了更多的拼写错误(MacKay, Abrams, & Pedroza, 1999)。这些结果表明, 正字法表征的通达随着年龄的增长而削弱, 这可能是由于老年人的词形表征和语音表征之间的联结减弱所致(Burke et al., 1991), 支持了激活不充分假设的观点。因此, 我们认为语言产生能力的老化很可能是由于人类语言加工系统本身的变化所导致的, 具有语言特异性。

语言加工系统包含各类表征(语义、韵律和句法等)及其运用, 无论是语言理解过程还是产生过程, 都涉及到概念层、语义层和语音层表征的提取。老年人在口语词汇产生过程中存在语义和语音联结的减弱, 这可能会导致其在词汇、句子和语篇能力水平上产生不同程度的衰退。研究表明, 在匹配了青年人和老年人的工作记忆广度后要求他们产生不同难度的句子, 老年人在高难度任务中的表现显著差于青年人, 而在低难度任务中两组的表现相当(Madden, Sale, & Robinson, 2018)。根据已有研究结果, 我们认为在词汇、句子和语篇理解过程中也存在类似的现象。语言任务中涉及到语言系统的不同加工水平, 可能会产生不同程度的老化。因此, 在本研究中我们测量了被试在词汇、句子和语篇三个水平的语言理解和语言产生能力。根据Pickering和Garrod (2013)所提出的语言产生与理解的整合理论, 理解和产生过程的相互影响依赖于二者在短时间内交织进行, 即依赖于激活在各水平表征节点之间来回迅速传递。老年人语言信息节点之间的传输效率降低, 这很可能使得理解与产生过程彼此贡献减小。因此, 我们推测老年人的语言理解和产生能力的相互贡献可能不同于青年人, 这种相互贡献可能随着年龄的增长而减小。

语言能力的衰退是由于一般认知能力衰退引起的, 还是由于语言加工系统的结构性衰退引起的, 抑或是两者共同作用的结果?本研究关注语言能力衰退的机制, 具体考察:第一, 个体年老化的过程中, 在不同的语言加工水平上, 语言能力的哪些方面会发生衰退?第二, 语言非特异性和语言特异性因素对语言能力老化的影响及贡献率。为了达到上述实验目的, 我们选择了两组被试(青年组和老年组), 采用不同任务测量他们的一般认知能力(加工速度、工作记忆和抑制能力), 以及在词汇、句子和语篇加工水平上的语言理解能力和语言产生能力。我们比较两组被试在不同任务上的表现, 并通过回归分析确定一般认知能力和语言特异能力对语言能力老化过程的影响。回归分析包括两个阶段:第一阶段, 我们分别对青年组和老年组被试建立模型, 考察一般认知能力(语言非特异性因素)和语言特异能力(语言特异性因素)对语言任务的作用权重, 观察两组被试是否存在贡献模式的差别。第二阶段, 我们将两组被试合并, 分别控制一般认知能力和语言特异能力, 观察其对组间差异的影响。我们预期老年人的一般认知能力、语言理解和语言产生能力与青年人存在显著差异; 语言非特异因素和语言特异因素对两组人的贡献模式不同, 且控制两类因素均可能缩小组间差异。语言加工过程的老化是语言非特异性因素和语言特异性因素共同作用的结果, 且在不同的加工水平上(词汇、句子和语篇), 两类因素的贡献率不同。

2 方法

2.1 被试

实验共招募了217名被试。其中, 青年人103名(在校大学生, 46名男性, 平均年龄20.73 ± 2.25岁, 年龄范围18~29岁, 平均受教育年限14.86 ± 1.99年); 老年人114名(社区退休人员, 39名男性, 平均年龄65.24 ± 5.18岁, 年龄范围60~84岁, 平均受教育年限12.22 ± 2.94年)。两组被试的性别比例(χ2 = 4.48, p = 0.034)、年龄(t = -80.64, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [-45.55, -43.37])、以及平均受教育年限(t = 7.68, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [1.96, 3.32])存在显著差异, 故在后续分析中对这三种人口学变量加以控制。所有被试均为汉语普通话母语者, 视力或矫正视力均正常, 经询问未有报告色盲或色弱病例, 无明显运动障碍, 能阅读计算机屏幕上的文字并按键反应。所有老年被试均事先通过了蒙特利尔认知评估测试(Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Nasreddine et al., 2005, 成绩大于或等于26分时认知能力正常), 平均分数27.29分。所有被试在实验结束后获得一定报酬。

2.2 任务

基于一般认知能力衰退的三种主流理论(即加工速度理论、工作记忆理论和抑制缺陷理论), 我们分别测量了被试的认知加工速度、工作记忆和抑制能力, 并且从词汇、句子和语篇三个水平测量了被试的语言理解能力和语言产生能力。

2.2.1 一般认知能力任务

测量认知加工速度的任务包括数字判断任务和颜色判断任务。这两项任务改编自Boudiaf等人(2008)的实验, 测量被试加工视觉和语义信息并做出运动反应的效率, 可以反映被试在语言活动中的认知加工速度。数字判断任务要求被试判断数字的奇偶性并按键反应。每个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现时间长度为500 ms的注视点, 然后呈现2到9这8个数字中的某一个, 被试需要判断该数字是奇数还是偶数, 并分别用左手或右手的食指按键反应。一旦被试做出反应, 便立即进入下一个试次。在整个任务中8个数字每个呈现三次, 按照随机顺序呈现。颜色判断任务要求被试判断颜色块的颜色并按键反应。每个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现时间长度为500 ms的注视点, 然后呈现红色或蓝色的颜色块, 被试需要判断该色块是红色还是蓝色, 并分别用左手或右手的食指按键反应。一旦被试做出反应, 便立即进入下一个试次。在整个任务中红色块和蓝色块各呈现12次, 按照随机顺序呈现, 记录被试的反应时和反应正确率。由于实验任务难度很低, 采用正确率(accuracy, ACC)作为指标无法有效反应被试的加工速度, 故采用反应时(RT)作为指标, 两个任务中每个被试的平均RT纳入后续分析。

测量工作记忆的任务包括数字广度正背和倒背任务。这两项任务改编自韦克斯勒智力量表第三版(the third edition of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS-III, Wechsler, 1997)。在数字广度正背任务中, 被试听到提前录制的数字串按照每秒一个数字的速度播放。在数字串播放完毕后, 被试需要复述所听到的数字串, 复述正确则听下一个数字串(该数字串的长度比前一个数字串长一个数字), 复述错误则听另一个长度相同的数字串。如果第二个数字串复述正确则继续实验, 错误则实验停止。被试在该任务上的分数通过成功复述的数字串长度来计算, 分值最小为1分(3个数字), 最大为10分(13个数字)。在倒背任务中, 被试需要按照倒序复述所听到的数字串, 其他规则与正背任务相同。分值最小为2分(2个数字), 最大为10分(10个数字)。每个被试在两个任务上的得分纳入后续分析。

对抑制能力的测量采用经典的STROOP色词判断任务。该任务改编并翻译自Golden和Freshwater (1978)的研究。任务中所用的材料为三种颜色(红色、蓝色和黄色)以及三个单字词(“红”、“蓝”和“黄”)。颜色与词随机组合成为一致项(例如, 红色的“红”)和不一致项(例如, 蓝色的“红”)。任务中每个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现时间长度为500 ms的注视点和1000 ms的空白屏, 之后呈现单字词, 被试需要忽略字义而判断字的颜色, 分别用左手或右手的食指、中指和无名指按相应键进行反应。每个被试一致条件与不一致条件下的平均RT的差值(即STROOP效应)纳入后续分析。

2.2.2 语言理解能力任务

词汇理解任务。该任务是一项词汇生命性判断任务。实验材料为30个双字词, 均来自张清芳和杨玉芳(2003)以及Liu, Hao, Li和Shu (2011)建立的标准化图片库中图片的名称, 其中一半词语所代表的概念具有生命性(如“小鸟”), 另一半所代表的概念则不具有生命性(如“梯子”)。任务中每个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现时间长度为500 ms的注视点和500 ms的空白屏, 之后呈现需要判断的名词, 被试需要根据名词的生命性分别用双手食指按相应键反应。按键后屏幕呈现时间长度为500 ms的空白屏, 之后进入下一个实验试次。每个被试的平均RT纳入后续分析。

句子理解任务。该任务是一项句子含义判断任务。实验材料为30个独立的句子(目标句), 以及与每个目标句一一匹配的另外30个句子(判断句)。这30个判断句中, 一半与目标句在句意上一致, 另一半则不一致。材料中有三类目标句:10个花园路径句, 选自张蕊(2017)的研究; 10个定义句(即介绍一个新异的概念); 另外10个为特殊句式, 包括5个双重否定句和5个反义疑问句。任务中每个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现一个时间长度为500 ms的注视点和500 ms的空白屏, 然后呈现目标句。被试阅读完目标句之后按空格键, 即呈现判断句。被试需要判断该句与目标句的句意是否一致, 分别用左手或右手的食指按相应键进行反应。被试按键后呈现时间长度为500 ms的空白屏, 然后进入下一个试次。每个被试所作判断的ACC纳入后续分析。

语篇理解任务。该任务与句子理解任务的形式类似。实验材料改编自李晓庆和杨玉芳(2005)的研究, 为30段与科技相关的叙事性语篇(目标语篇), 以及与每段目标语篇一一匹配的30个句子(判断句)。这30个判断句中, 一半与目标语篇在含义上一致, 另一半则不一致。任务中每个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现一个时间长度为500 ms的注视点和500 ms的空白屏, 然后呈现目标语篇。被试阅读完目标语篇之后按空格键, 即呈现判断句。被试需要判断该句与语篇的含义是否一致, 分别用左手或右手的食指按相应键进行反应。被试按键后呈现时间长度为500 ms的空白屏, 然后进入下一个试次。每个被试所作判断的ACC纳入后续分析。

2.2.3 语言产生能力任务

词汇产生任务。由两类言语流畅性任务组成, 包括两个语义流畅性(semantic fluency)任务和两个音位流畅性(phonemic fluency)任务。在语义流畅性任务中, 被试需要在1分钟内尽可能多地说出动物类别(任务一)或水果类别(任务二)的词语; 在音位流畅性任务中, 被试需要在1分钟内尽可能多地说出以/y/开头(任务一)或以/sh/开头(任务二)的词语。4个任务按照随机顺序呈现。每个被试所有正确产生的词语个数即为该被试词汇产生任务的分数, 纳入后续分析。

句子产生任务。改编自Kemper, Herman和Lian (2003)的研究。实验材料为3组名词(人物、地点和客体), 每一组包括12个名词, 共计36个名词, 均选择并翻译自Howard (1980)的标准化词库, 且均为高频词(Cai & Brysbaert, 2010)。整个实验任务共计36个试次, 每一个试次的流程是:屏幕上首先呈现时间长度为500 ms的注视点和长度为500 ms的空白屏, 然后呈现上下排列的2个、3个或4个名词(每种条件下有12个试次)。被试需要根据这些名词产生一个正确的句子, 要求句子中要包含所有呈现的名词。一旦被试开口发音, 屏幕上的名词即消失, 留下时间长度为10 s的空白屏, 同时录音收集被试的语料。每个试次所呈现的名词中都至少包括一个人物名词, 每个人物名词在整个实验中呈现3次。Kemper等人(2003)的研究表明, 在比较青年被试与老年被试所产生的句子时, 其句长指标与其他句子复杂性指标的模式相同, 可以有效反映句子的复杂程度。即被试所产生的句子越长, 句子产生能力越强。因此, 我们采用每个被试所产生句子的加权平均句长1(1在句子产生任务中, 每位被试所产生的正确句子数量差异较大(正确率范围为0.17~1, 标准差为0.18)。因此, 为了结合正确率和正确句子句长, 我们采用加权平均句长作为句子产生任务的得分, 即将被试所产生的错误句子长度记为0, 然后计算所有句子的平均句长。经验证, 加权平均句长与句子产生任务正确率的相关系数为0.74, 与平均句长的相关系数为0.77。采用因子分析发现, 平均句长、加权平均句长和句子产生正确率三个指标可提取一个因子, 其中加权平均句长在该因子上的载荷为0.99。)作为该任务的得分, 纳入后续分析。

语篇产生任务。该任务材料选自Mayer (1969)的图画故事叙述材料《小青蛙, 你在哪里?》(Frog, Where Are You?), 共计24张无文字的图画。实验中, 图片按照故事顺序依次在屏幕上呈现, 被试需要一边观看图片一边讲述该故事。当一张图片讲述完成, 被试按空格键呈现下一张图片, 直至结束。每个被试的语料从三个维度进行编码和计分:情节、主题和遭遇(具体参见Miles & Chapman, 2002), 三个维度的得分之和为被试在该任务上的得分, 纳入后续分析。

2.3 程序

实验程序采用E-Prime 3.0软件(Psychology Software Tools, Pittsburgh, PA)编写并在电脑上呈现。每个被试先完成测量加工速度、工作记忆和抑制能力的一般认知能力任务, 然后再分别完成语言理解和语言产生任务。由于语言任务耗时较长, 完成理解和产生任务的顺序在被试间平衡。整个实验持续约两小时, 实验中间有休息。

3 结果

6名老年被试由于没有完成所有的实验项目而被删除, 共计211名被试进入了数据分析。

3.1 描述统计

表1所示为青年组和老年组被试在全部11项任务中得分的平均值和标准差, 以及两组差异的Cohen’s d值。t检验的结果表明, 青年组和老年组的表现在所有任务上均存在显著差异。在差异的效应量(Cohen's d)上, 除了STROOP任务的两组差异效应值处于中等水平外, 其余各任务的两组差异效应量都很大。为方便后续结果的呈现, 我们将所有反应时指标进行了取相反数处理。图1所示为两组被试各任务平均得分的Z分数及其95%置信区间, 将青年人和老年人的数据放在一个分布中衡量时, 青年人的Z分数显著高于老年人。

表1   青年组与老年组在各项任务上的描述统计结果

任务青年组(n = 103)老年组(n = 108)tp95% CICohen's d指标
MSDMSD
数字判断622.8195.68728.31111.45-7.36<0.001[77.25, 133.75]1.02反应时(ms)
颜色判断444.9569.34535.3583.69-8.56<0.001[69.58, 111.22]1.18反应时(ms)
数字广度正背7.361.185.571.2210.78<0.001[1.46, 2.11]1.49分数
数字广度倒背7.421.534.811.2213.67<0.001[2.24, 2.99]1.89分数
STROOP74.7588.52128.41113.37-3.84<0.001[26.11, 81.19]0.53反应时(ms)
词汇理解737.85224.241284.78631.07-8.46<0.001[419.13, 674.73]1.15反应时(ms)
句子理解0.760.080.580.0915.13<0.001[0.15, 0.20]2.11准确率
语篇理解0.820.080.660.0814.53<0.001[0.13, 0.18]2.00准确率
词汇产生69.3914.9535.2610.6319.03<0.001[30.59, 37.67]2.63分数
句子产生12.032.928.472.948.85<0.001[2.77, 4.36]1.22分数
语篇产生17.642.2011.254.7012.77<0.001[5.41, 7.39]1.74分数

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图1

图1   青年组与老年组各项任务平均分的Z分数, 线段表示95%置信区间


3.2 各变量之间的相关分析

为比较青年组和老年组在各任务表现相关模式上的差别, 我们进行了相关分析, 发现两组被试在任务间相关模式上具有差异。表2所示为控制了人口学变量(性别、年龄和受教育年限)后, 青年组和老年组各任务得分之间的皮尔逊相关系数。可以看出, 青年组与老年组的各任务相关模式不同。在一般认知能力各个任务的相关关系中, 青年人比老年人表现出更多的显著相关。例如, 青年人的STROOP任务与数字判断、颜色判断和数字广度倒背任务之间的相关都是显著的, 而老年人的STROOP任务仅仅与数字判断存在显著相关。在语言理解能力中, 青年组的语言理解能力与一般认知任务之间呈现出更多的显著相关, 而老年人则少一些。例如, 青年人的词汇和句子理解任务与加工速度任务(数字判断或颜色判断)和抑制能力任务之间有显著相关, 而老年组的词汇和句子理解任务仅与加工速度任务中的颜色判断任务之间有显著相关。在语篇理解能力任务中, 青年组中仅发现了句子理解和语篇理解之间的显著相关, 而老年组的语言理解任务与一般认知能力中的加工速度任务、工作记忆任务(数字广度倒背)都有显著相关, 与词汇理解和句子理解任务不相关。在语言产生能力任务中, 青年人的词汇产生与一般认知能力任务、词汇理解和句子理解之间均有显著相关, 而老年人的词汇产生任务与工作记忆任务和词汇理解之间有显著相关; 青年人的句子产生与句子理解之间有显著相关, 老年人的句子产生与工作记忆任务显著相关; 青年人的语篇产生与句子产生之间有显著相关, 老年人的语篇产生与加工速度任务、句子理解、词汇产生和句子产生之间均有显著相关。

表2   青年组与老年组在各项任务上的皮尔逊相关系数

组别任务12345678910
青年组1. 数字判断-
2. 颜色判断0.64***-
3. 数字广度正背0.29**0.04-
4. 数字广度倒背0.28**0.160.56***-
5. STROOP0.24*0.27**0.150.26**-
6. 词汇理解0.56***0.49***0.080.10.32**-
7. 句子理解0.27**0.120.190.22*0.220.22*-
8. 语篇理解0.070.040.040.180.130.10.21*-
9. 词汇产生0.27**0.21*0.22*0.090.2*0.35***0.38***0.08-
10. 句子产生0.10-0.050.030.110.030.030.09-0.28**0.16-
11. 语篇产生0.130.11-0.170.02-0.06-0.060.06-0.050.26**0.18
老年组1. 数字判断-
2. 颜色判断0.64***-
3. 数字广度正背0.110.03-
4. 数字广度倒背0.080.080.48***-
5. STROOP0.24*0.160.000.02-
6. 词汇理解0.160.19*0.120.17-0.04-
7. 句子理解0.010.20*0.020.070.030.14-
8. 语篇理解0.28**0.21*0.110.21*-0.010.150.16-
9. 词汇产生0.060.110.26**0.22*-0.030.33***0.080.13-
10. 句子产生0.100.160.110.26**0.110.060.180.090.21*-
11. 语篇产生0.28**0.23*0.040.140.060.190.24*0.27**0.140.28**

注:控制了性别、年龄和受教育年限。*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

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3.3 分层线性回归模型

回归分析的目的是考察哪些语言特异性因素和非特异性因素显著影响了语言理解能力和语言产生能力, 从语言能力的三个水平(词汇、句子和语篇)来进行, 分为两个分析阶段:

第一阶段的分析关注青年人与老年人在各项语言任务上的模式差别。为探究一般认知能力和语言产生能力对语言理解能力的贡献, 并比较两者在青年组和老年组间的贡献模式差异, 我们建立了6个分层线性回归模型, 每个模型分为3层:第一层为人口学变量, 包括性别、年龄和受教育年限; 第二层加入一般认知能力变量, 包括数字判断、颜色判断、数字广度正背、数字广度倒背以及STROOP任务的得分; 第三层加入语言产生能力变量, 包括词汇产生、句子产生以及语篇产生任务的得分。本研究中所有的分层回归模型均按照上述顺序逐步放入三类变量。回归分析的指标为R², 又叫做测定系数(coefficient of determination), 取值在0~1之间, 表示回归平方和对总平方和的贡献(张厚粲, 徐建平, 2003), 即预测变量的变异解释了被预测变量变异的百分之多少。由于语言加工过程同时受到一般认知能力和语言特异能力的影响, 在数据分析中控制了一般认知能力后, 语言特异的加工过程如果仍然显著(如语言理解能力对语言产生任务得分的显著预测或者语言产生能力对语言理解任务得分的显著预测), 则表明语言加工过程受到了语言特异性因素的影响。第一层与第二层之间可计算ΔR², 表示当控制了人口学变量之后, 一般认知能力变量对语言理解任务得分的解释量, 即一般认知能力对语言理解能力的贡献; 第二层与第三层之间同样可计算ΔR², 表示当控制人口学变量以及一般认知能力变量之后, 语言产生能力变量对语言理解任务得分的解释量, 即语言产生能力对语言理解能力的特异性贡献(结果如表3所示)。在词汇理解任务中, 青年组被试的一般认知能力贡献显著(尤其是数字判断任务的得分), 而在老年组被试中并未观测到此现象。在句子理解任务中, 青年组被试的一般认知能力和语言产生能力对语言理解能力都有显著的贡献, 而在老年组被试中两种能力的贡献均不显著。在语篇理解任务中, 青年组被试的语言产生能力对该任务有显著贡献, 而老年组被试则是一般认知能力贡献显著。

表3   一般认知能力和语言产生能力对词汇理解、句子理解和语篇理解任务得分的分层回归分析[B (SE)]

任务预测变量青年组老年组
步骤 1步骤 2步骤 3步骤 1步骤 2步骤 3
词汇理解性别0.073 (0.084)0.078 (0.069)0.057 (0.071)0.253 (0.244)0.322 (0.243)0.345 (0.239)
年龄0.746 (0.963)1.092 (0.787)1.220 (0.759)0.036 (0.494)0.062 (0.499)0.010 (0.484)
受教育年限-0.085 (0.137)-0.163 (0.113)-0.232 (0.111)*0.099 (0.110)0.021 (0.113)-0.026 (0.111)
数字判断0.214 (0.057)***0.216 (0.056)***0.086 (0.154)0.070 (0.152)
颜色判断0.096 (0.058)0.083 (0.056)0.189 (0.159)0.142 (0.155)
数字广度正背-0.019 (0.053)-0.082 (0.054)0.055 (0.157)-0.023 (0.155)
数字广度倒背-0.036 (0.051)-0.002 (0.050)0.247 (0.199)0.197 (0.198)
STROOP0.092 (0.043)*0.063 (0.042)-0.095 (0.107)-0.073 (0.104)
词汇产生0.160 (0.054)**0.677 (0.233)**
句子产生-0.004 (0.039)-0.109 (0.138)
语篇产生-0.202 (0.081)*0.144 (0.125)
R² = 0.012ΔR² = 0.372***ΔR² = 0.071*R² = 0.017ΔR² = 0.072ΔR² = 0.088*
句子理解性别0.366 (0.133)**0.331 (0.13)*0.226 (0.134)-0.086 (0.151)-0.034 (0.151)0.026 (0.151)
年龄-0.140 (1.527)-0.047 (1.478)-0.213 (1.43)-0.436 (0.305)-0.301 (0.310)-0.249 (0.306)
受教育年限-0.018 (0.218)-0.050 (0.212)-0.087 (0.210)0.051 (0.068)0.017 (0.070)-0.014 (0.070)
数字判断0.220 (0.107)*0.185 (0.106)-0.156 (0.096)-0.190 (0.096)
颜色判断-0.10 (0.109)-0.125 (0.106)0.252 (0.099)*0.227 (0.098)*
数字广度正背0.023 (0.099)-0.048 (0.102)0.008 (0.097)0.020 (0.098)
数字广度倒背0.086 (0.096)0.126 (0.094)0.062 (0.124)0.000 (0.125)
STROOP0.121 (0.080)0.081 (0.079)0.017 (0.066)0.013 (0.066)
词汇产生0.327 (0.101)**0.003 (0.148)
句子产生-0.001 (0.074)0.079 (0.088)
语篇产生-0.073 (0.153)0.164 (0.079)*
R² = 0.076*ΔR² = 0.116*ΔR² = 0.087*R² = 0.030ΔR² = 0.065ΔR² = 0.056
语篇理解性别0.049 (0.145)0.019 (0.149)-0.095 (0.152)0.030 (0.146)0.064 (0.142)0.110 (0.144)
年龄0.018 (1.666)0.179 (1.684)0.308 (1.618)0.023 (0.296)-0.001 (0.291)0.023 (0.291)
受教育年限-0.034 (0.237)-0.038 (0.242)-0.147 (0.237)0.200 (0.066)**0.158 (0.066)*0.138 (0.067)*
数字判断0.037 (0.122)0.097 (0.120)0.188 (0.090)*0.159 (0.091)
颜色判断-0.034 (0.124)-0.114 (0.120)0.027 (0.093)0.013 (0.093)
数字广度正背-0.085 (0.113)-0.163 (0.115)-0.008 (0.091)-0.008 (0.093)
数字广度倒背0.177 (0.109)0.240 (0.107)*0.209 (0.116)0.181 (0.119)
STROOP0.081 (0.091)0.062 (0.089)-0.050 (0.062)-0.046 (0.062)
词汇产生0.155 (0.114)0.078 (0.140)
句子产生-0.279 (0.084)**-0.025 (0.083)
语篇产生-0.106 (0.173)0.140 (0.075)
R² = 0.002ΔR² = 0.047ΔR² = 0.115**R² = 0.084*ΔR² = 0.112*ΔR² = 0.032

注:所有连续变量均经过标准化处理。*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

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同样地, 为探究一般认知能力和语言理解能力对语言产生能力的贡献, 并比较两者在青年组和老年组间的贡献模式差异, 我们建立了类似的6个分层线性回归模型, 每个模型分为3层:第一层和第二层为人口学变量和一般认知能力变量, 第三层加入语言理解能力变量, 包括词汇理解、句子理解以及语篇理解任务的得分。第二层与第三层之间的ΔR²表示当控制了人口学变量以及一般认知能力变量之后, 语言理解能力变量对语言产生任务得分的解释量, 即语言理解能力对语言产生能力的特异性贡献(结果如表4所示)。在词汇产生任务中, 青年组被试的一般认知能力和语言理解能力对语言产生能力都有显著贡献, 而老年组被试仅语言理解能力的贡献达到了显著水平。在句子产生任务中, 青年组被试的语言理解能力贡献显著, 而老年组被试的两种能力都没有显著贡献。在语篇产生任务中, 青年组被试的一般认知能力和语言理解能力都没有显著的贡献, 而老年组被试的语言理解能力对该任务贡献显著。第一阶段分层回归分析的结果汇总如图2所示。

表4   一般认知能力和语言理解能力对词汇产生、句子产生和语篇产生任务得分的分层回归分析[B (SE)]

任务预测变量青年组老年组
步骤 1步骤 2步骤 3步骤 1步骤 2步骤 3
词汇产生性别0.335 (0.138)*0.362 (0.136)**0.225 (0.132)0.018 (0.104)0.040 (0.103)0.000 (0.101)
年龄0.774 (1.587)0.784 (1.538)0.361 (1.458)0.093 (0.211)0.112 (0.211)0.106 (0.206)
受教育年限0.053 (0.226)0.045 (0.221)0.126 (0.210)0.098 (0.047)*0.060 (0.048)0.052 (0.048)
数字判断0.131 (0.112)-0.025 (0.114)-0.027 (0.065)-0.044 (0.066)
颜色判断0.072 (0.113)0.066 (0.108)0.075 (0.067)0.050 (0.068)
数字广度正背0.182 (0.103)0.182 (0.097)0.130 (0.066)0.123 (0.065)
数字广度倒背-0.100 (0.100)-0.114 (0.095)0.082 (0.084)0.045 (0.084)
STROOP0.112 (0.083)0.036 (0.081)-0.019 (0.045)-0.006 (0.044)
词汇理解0.401 (0.190)*0.119 (0.042)**
句子理解0.32 (0.102)**0.002 (0.068)
语篇理解0.001 (0.090)0.037 (0.072)
R² = 0.084*ΔR² = 0.113*ΔR² = 0.118**R² = 0.041ΔR² = 0.090ΔR² = 0.073*
句子产生性别-0.201 (0.173)-0.276 (0.177)-0.317 (0.176)-0.059 (0.179)-0.015 (0.177)-0.005 (0.179)
年龄0.383 (1.990)0.428 (2.010)0.467 (1.944)-0.212 (0.363)-0.127 (0.363)-0.075 (0.367)
受教育年限-0.196 (0.284)-0.252 (0.289)-0.255 (0.279)0.163 (0.081)*0.119 (0.082)0.116 (0.085)
数字判断0.246 (0.146)0.223 (0.152)-0.028 (0.112)-0.001 (0.118)
颜色判断-0.243 (0.148)-0.246 (0.145)0.138 (0.116)0.098 (0.120)
数字广度正背-0.117 (0.135)-0.154 (0.130)-0.010 (0.114)-0.011 (0.115)
数字广度倒背0.139 (0.130)0.200 (0.127)0.335 (0.145)*0.328 (0.149)*
STROOP0.014 (0.109)0.027 (0.108)0.070 (0.078)0.066 (0.079)
词汇理解0.036 (0.253)-0.015 (0.074)
句子理解0.138 (0.137)0.168 (0.120)
语篇理解-0.403 (0.120)**0.003 (0.128)
R² = 0.032ΔR² = 0.046ΔR² = 0.104*R² = 0.047ΔR² = 0.091ΔR² = 0.018
语篇产生性别0.215 (0.089)*0.188 (0.090)*0.187 (0.093)*-0.408 (0.198)*-0.358 (0.194)-0.387 (0.190)*
年龄1.049 (1.026)1.248 (1.015)1.492 (1.023)-0.296 (0.400)-0.261 (0.399)-0.188 (0.389)
受教育年限-0.237 (0.146)-0.299 (0.146)*-0.333 (0.147)*0.170 (0.089)0.131 (0.090)0.091 (0.090)
数字判断0.107 (0.074)0.142 (0.080)0.216 (0.123)0.210 (0.125)
颜色判断-0.004 (0.075)0.021 (0.076)0.084 (0.127)-0.001 (0.128)
数字广度正背-0.166 (0.068)*-0.175 (0.068)*-0.071 (0.125)-0.075 (0.122)
数字广度倒背0.087 (0.066)0.082 (0.067)0.215 (0.159)0.136 (0.158)
STROOP-0.056 (0.055)-0.040 (0.057)-0.010 (0.085)0.004 (0.083)
词汇理解-0.214 (0.133)0.076 (0.078)
句子理解0.056 (0.072)0.257 (0.128)*
语篇理解-0.045 (0.063)0.210 (0.135)
R² = 0.077*ΔR² = 0.079ΔR² = 0.031R² = 0.081*ΔR² = 0.091ΔR² = 0.073*

注:所有连续变量均经过标准化处理。*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01

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图2

图2   (a)语言理解任务的分层回归模型中分别控制一般认知能力和语言产生能力后的ΔR²; (b) 语言产生任务的分层回归模型中分别控制一般认知能力和语言理解能力后的ΔR²。*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001


为检验一般认知能力、语言理解和语言产生能力的各子成分对语言任务表现的预测作用, 我们采用前进逐步回归(forward selection)将各预测变量逐个放入回归方程, 观察具体每个指标对语言能力的解释量, 结果如表5所示。对于词汇水平的加工, 青年组的理解能力能够被数字判断、颜色判断以及词汇产生任务分数所解释, 产生能力能够被词汇理解和句子理解任务分数所解释; 而老年组的理解能力则能够被词汇产生任务得分所解释, 产生能力能够被数字广度倒背和词汇理解任务得分所解释。对于句子水平的加工, 青年组的理解能力能够被数字广度倒背和词汇产生任务得分所解释, 产生能力能够被语篇理解任务得分所解释; 而老年组的理解能力则能够被语篇产生任务得分所解释, 产生能力能够被数字广度倒背任务得分所解释。对于语篇水平的加工, 青年组的理解能力能够被数字广度倒背和句子产生任务得分所解释, 产生能力未发现显著的认知能力或语言能力因素; 而老年组的理解能力则能够被数字判断和语篇产生任务得分所解释, 产生能力能够被颜色判断和语篇理解任务得分所解释。

表5   一般认知任务、语言产生任务或语言理解任务对语言理解能力或语言产生能力的解释量(ΔR²)

语言能力预测变量青年组老年组
词汇水平句子水平语篇水平词汇水平句子水平语篇水平
语言理解性别-0.031*----
年龄------
受教育年限-----0.053*
数字判断0.301***----0.042*
颜色判断0.032*-----
数字广度正背------
数字广度倒背-0.037*0.046*---
STROOP------
词汇产生0.041*0.168***-0.112***--
句子产生--0.074**---
语篇产生----0.069**0.094**
语言产生性别--0.042*---
年龄------
受教育年限------
数字判断------
颜色判断-----0.047*
数字广度正背------
数字广度倒背---0.062**0.079**-
STROOP------
词汇理解0.073**--0.112***--
句子理解0.168***-----
语篇理解-0.074**---0.094**

注:*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

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在第二阶段的回归分析中, 我们联合分析两组被试各项任务的得分, 引入“组别”变量作为组间差异的指标。通过控制各变量后观察“组别”变量对模型解释量的变化, 可以探索一般认知能力和语言能力对于语言任务得分组间差异的影响。

为探究一般认知能力和语言产生能力对语言理解任务得分组间差异的贡献, 我们对每个水平上的理解任务建立了3个模型, 每个模型分为两层。在模型1中, 第一层为人口学变量, 第二层加入组别。此时ΔR²表示在控制了人口学变量之后, 组别对各语言理解任务得分的解释量。在模型2中, 第一层为人口学变量和一般认知能力变量, 第二层加入组别。此时的ΔR²表示, 在控制了人口学变量和一般认知能力变量之后, 组别对各语言理解任务得分的解释量。在模型3中, 第一层为人口学变量、一般认知能力变量和语言产生能力变量, 第二层加入组别。此时的ΔR²表示在将人口学变量、一般认知能力变量以及语言产生能力变量都控制之后, 组别对各语言理解任务得分的解释量。由于我们将R²和ΔR²均视为数值(解释量与解释量的变化量), 可以计算模型1和模型2之间ΔR²的差值, 即ΔΔR², 表示由于控制了一般认知能力变量, 组别解释量的减小量。同理, 模型2和模型3之间的ΔΔR²表示由于控制了语言产生能力变量, 组别解释量的减小量(结果如表6所示)。在模型3中, 当将人口学、一般认知能力以及语言产生能力变量都进行控制后, 组别对词汇理解任务的解释量不显著。对于句子理解和语篇理解任务, 即便将三种变量都进行控制, 组别仍然能显著解释任务的变异。在全部三项语言理解任务中, 模型1与模型2之间的ΔΔR²均大于模型2与模型3之间的ΔΔR²。

表6   一般认知能力和语言产生能力对词汇理解、句子理解和语篇理解任务得分组间差异的分层回归分析[B (SE)]


预测变量模型 1模型 2模型 3
步骤 1步骤 2步骤 1步骤 2步骤 1步骤 2



性别0.031 (0.137)0.145 (0.125)0.160 (0.125)0.184 (0.123)0.116 (0.122)0.124 (0.123)
受教育年限0.287 (0.067)***0.069 (0.068)0.078 (0.066)0.022 (0.067)-0.007 (0.066)-0.011 (0.067)
(组别)-0.951 (0.136)***
数字判断0.106 (0.089)0.105 (0.087)0.080 (0.086)0.083 (0.086)
颜色判断0.232 (0.089)*0.177 (0.089)*0.156 (0.087)0.151 (0.088)
数字广度正背0.093 (0.087)0.047 (0.087)0.010 (0.087)0.007 (0.087)
数字广度倒背0.203 (0.090)*0.089 (0.095)0.097 (0.092)0.083 (0.095)
STROOP-0.025 (0.064)-0.042 (0.063)-0.042 (0.062)-0.044 (0.062)
(组别)-0.568 (0.180)**
词汇产生0.344 (0.089)***0.314 (0.103)**
句子产生-0.021 (0.071)-0.024 (0.071)
语篇产生0.080 (0.079)0.069 (0.082)
组别-0.129 (0.225)
R² = 0.082***ΔR² = 0.175***R² = 0.282***ΔR² = 0.034**R² = 0.351***ΔR² = 0.001
ΔΔR² = 0.141ΔΔR² = 0.033



性别-0.009 (0.133)0.162 (0.099)0.138 (0.112)0.186 (0.099)0.117 (0.101)0.160 (0.098)
受教育年限0.371 (0.065)***0.043 (0.054)0.140 (0.059)*0.029 (0.054)0.019 (0.055)-0.004 (0.053)
(组别)-1.426 (0.108)***
数字判断-0.016 (0.080)-0.017 (0.070)-0.061 (0.071)-0.045 (0.069)
颜色判断0.237 (0.080)**0.129 (0.072)0.127 (0.072)0.102 (0.07)
数字广度正背0.118 (0.078)0.027 (0.070)0.027 (0.072)0.009 (0.069)
数字广度倒背0.331 (0.081)***0.106 (0.077)0.155 (0.076)*0.080 (0.076)
STROOP0.083 (0.057)0.05 (0.051)0.061 (0.051)0.049 (0.049)
(组别)-1.122 (0.145)***
词汇产生0.375 (0.074)***0.213 (0.082)*
句子产生0.054 (0.058)0.040 (0.057)
语篇产生0.196 (0.066)**0.134 (0.065)*
组别-0.705 (0.179)***
R² = 0.138***ΔR² = 0.393***R² = 0.424***ΔR² = 0.132***R² = 0.554***ΔR² = 0.032***
ΔΔR² = 0.261ΔΔR² = 0.099



性别-0.130 (0.129)0.026 (0.101)-0.012 (0.110)0.030 (0.100)-0.041 (0.105)0.011 (0.101)
受教育年限0.427 (0.063)***0.129 (0.055)*0.204 (0.058)***0.107 (0.055)0.126 (0.057)*0.099 (0.055)
(组别)-1.298 (0.110)***
数字判断0.093 (0.078)0.093 (0.071)0.055 (0.074)0.074 (0.070)
颜色判断0.130 (0.078)0.036 (0.072)0.054 (0.075)0.024 (0.072)
数字广度正背0.050 (0.076)-0.030 (0.070)-0.004 (0.074)-0.025 (0.071)
数字广度倒背0.385 (0.079)***0.189 (0.078)*0.287 (0.079)***0.197 (0.078)*
STROOP0.027 (0.056)-0.002 (0.051)0.021 (0.053)0.007 (0.051)
(组别)-0.975 (0.147)***
词汇产生0.252 (0.076)**0.058 (0.084)
句子产生-0.113 (0.061)-0.130 (0.058)*
语篇产生0.219 (0.068)**0.145 (0.067)*
组别-0.843 (0.184)***
R² = 0.190***ΔR² = 0.326***R² = 0.447***ΔR² = 0.099***R² = 0.519***ΔR² = 0.046***
ΔΔR² = 0.226ΔΔR² = 0.053

注:所有连续变量均经过标准化处理。*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

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同样地, 为探究一般认知能力和语言理解能力对语言产生任务得分组间差异的贡献, 我们按照同样的方式对每个水平上的产生任务建立了3个模型(结果如表7所示)。对于每一项语言产生任务, 模型3中组别的解释量均显著, 即当控制了人口学、一般认知能力以及语言理解能力变量后, 三项产生任务均仍存在显著的组间差异。另外, 在全部三项语言产生任务中, 模型1与模型2之间的ΔΔR²均大于模型2与模型3之间的ΔΔR²。第二阶段分层回归分析结果汇总如图3所示。

表7   一般认知能力和语言理解能力对词汇产生、句子产生和语篇产生任务得分组间差异的分层回归分析[B (SE)]


预测变量模型 1模型 2模型 3
步骤 1步骤 2步骤 1步骤 2步骤 1步骤 2



性别-0.004 (0.127)0.177 (0.085)*0.148 (0.102)0.201 (0.084)*0.078 (0.090)0.146 (0.082)
受教育年限0.464 (0.062)***0.117 (0.046)*0.216 (0.054)***0.093 (0.046)*0.132 (0.049)**0.085 (0.045)
(组别)-1.51 (0.093)***
数字判断0.046 (0.072)0.045 (0.059)0.020 (0.064)0.033 (0.058)
颜色判断0.184 (0.073)*0.066 (0.061)0.053 (0.066)0.020 (0.060)
数字广度正背0.250 (0.071)***0.150 (0.059)*0.190 (0.062)**0.139 (0.057)*
数字广度倒背0.253 (0.073)***0.005 (0.065)0.064 (0.069)-0.025 (0.064)
STROOP0.050 (0.052)0.014 (0.043)0.025 (0.046)0.012 (0.042)
(组别)-1.235 (0.123)***
词汇理解0.178 (0.051)***0.139 (0.047)**
句子理解0.313 (0.059)***0.161 (0.058)**
语篇理解0.128 (0.060)*0.006 (0.058)
组别-0.969 (0.144)***
R² = 0.216***ΔR² = 0.440***R² = 0.522***ΔR² = 0.159***R² = 0.642***ΔR² = 0.067***
ΔΔR² = 0.281ΔΔR² = 0.093



性别-0.262 (0.135)-0.148 (0.123)-0.173 (0.126)-0.146 (0.123)-0.215 (0.125)-0.173 (0.124)
受教育年限0.291 (0.066)***0.072 (0.067)0.123 (0.067)0.062 (0.068)0.105 (0.068)0.075 (0.068)
(组别)-0.954 (0.134)***
数字判断0.028 (0.090)0.027 (0.087)0.036 (0.089)0.044 (0.087)
颜色判断0.091 (0.090)0.032 (0.089)0.035 (0.091)0.015 (0.09)
数字广度正背0.035 (0.088)-0.015 (0.087)0.007 (0.087)-0.025 (0.086)
数字广度倒背0.330 (0.091)***0.206 (0.096)*0.276 (0.096)**0.22 (0.097)*
STROOP0.061 (0.065)0.043 (0.063)0.044 (0.064)0.036 (0.063)
(组别)-0.62 (0.181)***
词汇理解0.042 (0.071)0.018 (0.071)
句子理解0.249 (0.083)**0.155 (0.088)
语篇理解-0.096 (0.084)-0.172 (0.087)*
组别-0.604 (0.218)**
R² = 0.106***ΔR² = 0.176***R² = 0.270***ΔR² = 0.040***R² = 0.305***ΔR² = 0.026**
ΔΔR² = 0.136ΔΔR² = 0.014



性别-0.24 (0.131)-0.096 (0.108)-0.128 (0.116)-0.086 (0.107)-0.177 (0.109)-0.132 (0.107)
受教育年限0.38 (0.064)***0.104 (0.059)0.173 (0.062)**0.077 (0.059)0.090 (0.059)0.059 (0.058)
(组别)-1.199 (0.118)***
数字判断0.135 (0.082)0.135 (0.076)0.113 (0.077)0.122 (0.075)
颜色判断0.182 (0.083)**0.089 (0.078)0.073 (0.079)0.052 (0.078)
数字广度正背-0.023 (0.081)-0.102 (0.075)-0.072 (0.076)-0.106 (0.074)
数字广度倒背0.325 (0.084)***0.131 (0.083)0.146 (0.083)0.087 (0.083)
STROOP0.002 (0.060)-0.026 (0.055)-0.024 (0.056)-0.032 (0.054)
(组别)-0.968 (0.157)***
词汇理解0.082 (0.062)0.057 (0.061)
句子理解0.275 (0.072)***0.176 (0.076)*
语篇理解0.186 (0.073)*0.106 (0.075)
组别-0.635 (0.187)***
R² = 0.163***ΔR² = 0.278***R² = 0.382***ΔR² = 0.098***R² = 0.476***ΔR² = 0.029***
ΔΔR² = 0.180ΔΔR² = 0.069

注:所有连续变量均经过标准化处理。*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

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图3

图3   语言任务的分层回归模型中组别的ΔR²。** p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001


4 讨论

我们考察了语言非特异性和语言特异性因素对语言能力老化的影响。我们首先比较了青年组和老年组被试在语言理解、语言产生和一般认知能力任务上的表现, 发现在测量语言理解能力、语言产生能力和一般认知能力的所有任务上, 青年被试与老年被试均存在显著的组间差异, 表明这三种能力都存在年老化现象。分层回归分析结果表明, 一般认知能力和语言产生(或语言理解)能力对于语言理解(或语言产生)任务的贡献模式在青年组和老年组中是不同的, 且存在词汇、句子和语篇加工水平上的差异。一般认知能力和语言能力对青年组语言任务表现的贡献都大于老年组, 表明语言非特异性因素(一般认知能力)和语言特异性因素共同影响了语言能力的老化。从语言任务的不同加工水平来看, 在较低水平的加工过程(例如词汇水平)中, 青年人和老年人的语言任务间的相关模式类似, 而在较高水平的加工过程(例如句子和语篇水平)中两组被试的相关模式具有明显的不同, 表明个体语言系统内部结构和性质的老化更容易体现在较高水平的加工过程中。

4.1 语言理解和语言产生能力的老化

我们发现, 在全部六项语言理解和语言产生任务中, 青年组和老年组的表现都具有显著差异。这表明, 与青年人相比老年人的语言能力具有广泛性的下降。在语言产生领域, 关于老年人产生能力衰退的观点得到了大量证据支持。众多研究发现, 语言产生能力与年龄有关的衰退发生在词汇水平(e.g., Burke et al., 1991; Clark et al., 2009; James & Burke, 2000; Morrison et al., 2002; Poon & Fozard, 1978; Rastle & Burke, 1996; Shafto et al., 2007; Taylor & Burke, 2002; White & Abrams, 2002), 句子水平(e.g., Kemper et al., 2003; Kemper, Herman, & Liu, 2004)和语篇水平(e.g., Bortfeld et al., 2001; de Beni et al., 2007; Kemper, 1992b), 我们的结果与已有研究结论一致。在词汇产生任务中, 实验采用了言语流畅性任务, 发现老年人的言语流畅性要显著弱于青年人, 结果与已有研究结论一致(Clark et al., 2009)。在句子产生任务中, 我们发现老年被试所产生的句子, 其复杂程度要显著低于青年被试。这表明, 老年人建构复杂句法的能力可能有所下降, 与已有的研究结论一致(Kemper, Greiner, Marquis, Prenovost, & Mitzner, 2001)。在语篇产生任务中, 老年组被试所产生的语篇相比于青年被试具有更大的偏题倾向, 在按照要点计分的任务中得分更低。这一结果与已有的研究结论一致, 反映了老年人的语言在扣题和整体连贯性上与青年人相比存在明显不足(Glosser & Deser, 1992)。

已有研究关于语言理解能力的老化存在争论。在词汇水平的理解任务中, 大多数研究结果支持我们的发现, 即老年人词汇识别速度慢于青年人(Kliegl et al., 2004; Madden, 1988; Rayner et al., 2006)。然而, 在句子水平和语篇水平的理解任务中, 现有研究存在分歧。有研究发现, 老年人在句子理解和语篇理解过程中对句法信息的加工与青年人不存在明显差距。这方面的实验证据主要来自在线句法加工(online syntactic processing)任务(DeDe, Caplan, Kemtes, & Waters, 2004; Tyler, Cobb, & Graham, 1992; Waters & Caplan, 2001), 考察被试实时加工句法信息的过程。相比之下, 采用离线句法加工(offline syntactic processing)任务通常能够检测到老年人与青年人的表现差异(DeDe & Flax, 2016)。研究者认为, 在这类任务中因为探测刺激的出现晚于所要理解的信息, 老年人工作记忆容量的下降导致其在该类任务中的表现更差。我们的结果发现, 数字广度倒背任务成绩能够显著解释句子理解和语篇理解成绩, 为工作记忆衰退导致语言理解能力下降的观点提供了证据支持。

4.2 语言能力的老化:语言非特异性和语言特异性因素的共同作用

根据一般认知能力对语言任务得分的回归分析结果我们发现, 相比于老年被试语言非特异性因素(即一般认知能力因素)对于青年人语言任务的表现贡献更大。在词汇理解、句子理解和词汇产生任务中, 青年被试的一般认知能力变量能够显著解释任务得分的变异, 而在老年被试中却未观察到这种现象。这一发现可以在流体智力与晶体智力的框架下进行解释:流体智力(在本研究中即一般认知能力)在成年早期到达顶峰后逐渐衰退, 而晶体智力(例如词汇知识和某些技能)在一生中持续发展(Margrett, Martin, Woodard, & Poon, 2016)。为了完成某种语言活动, 青年人可以依靠其一般认知能力(即流体智力), 而老年人则更需要借助毕生积累的丰富语义知识(即晶体智力)。尽管如此, 在语篇理解任务中, 我们观察到一般认知能力在老年人中发挥了显著的作用, 而在青年人中却没有。我们认为这种反转的模式可能与所选择实验材料的内容有关。语言理解任务中所用材料均为科技题材, 更贴近青年人的生活而相对远离老年人的生活。因此, 青年人在理解语篇时可以借助其丰富的与科技相关的知识储备, 而老年人反而只能依赖一般认知能力来当场理解这些不熟悉的信息。这也提示我们在材料的选择中应该包括各类题材的语篇, 我们将在后续的研究中对此进行探索。

在句子理解和语篇理解任务中, 青年组被试的语言产生能力显著地解释了任务得分的变异; 在词汇产生任务中, 青年组被试的语言理解能力具有显著的解释力。以上现象在老年组中均未观察到。这表明, 青年人的语言理解和产生能力之间的联系更为紧密, 而在老年人中二者的联系变弱。在Pickering和Garrod (2013)的语言产生与理解的整合理论中, 当个体进行语言活动时, 激活在各个水平的语言表征间来回传递。根据传递不足假设, 老年人语言系统中各节点间的联结强度减弱, 降低了激活传递的效率, 因此阻碍了理解和产生这两种过程的相互协助。采用事件相关电位技术的研究发现, 在理解语言的过程中老年人运用语境信息进行预测的能力弱于青年人(Federmeier, McLennan, de Ochoa, & Kutas, 2002), 表明其运用产生过程来预测所理解的信息的能力下降, 即语言理解与产生过程的联结减弱。尽管如此, 在语篇产生任务中, 语言理解能力对老年人的任务分数解释力显著, 而在青年人中却未观察到这种现象。这与老年人在产生语篇时的偏题倾向有关。相较于青年人, 老年人在产生语篇时更容易忽略重点信息, 并且缺乏连贯性(Bortfeld et al., 2001; Arbuckle & Gold, 1993), 因此语言理解能力强的个体, 更能有效地通过自我监控来保持扣题, 避免偏题现象, 这就导致理解能力在老年人中对语篇产生任务表现具有显著的解释力。而青年人在产生语篇时较少存在偏题现象, 因此语言理解能力的高低对该任务表现的影响较小。从语言任务(能力)的不同水平来看, 词汇水平的理解和产生任务之间具有紧密的联系。无论是在青年组还是老年组中, 词汇理解任务和词汇产生任务都具有非常显著的相关关系, 并且可以显著地相互解释。但当进入句子和语篇水平, 这种相互关系变得更为复杂:在老年组中, 句子理解和语篇产生、语篇理解和语篇产生都具有显著的相关关系, 但在青年组中未观察到; 在青年组中, 语篇理解和句子产生彼此能够显著地相互预测, 而在老年组中并未观察到二者的相关关系。这些结果表明, 个体语言系统内部的老化可能体现在较高水平的加工。

从具体任务得分对语言能力的解释情况来看, 相比于言语短时记忆, 言语工作记忆具有更重要的影响。数字广度倒背任务得分能够显著解释青年组的句子和语篇理解能力, 以及老年组的词汇和句子产生能力, 而数字广度正背任务得分却并未显著解释任何语言任务得分。这可能是由于倒背任务需要对记忆信息进行操作和存储, 正背任务对于记忆信息的操作要求较少, 这是工作记忆区别于短时记忆的重要特征。上述发现表明, 相对于单纯的言语短时记忆(体现为数字广度正背得分), 无论是青年人还是老年人, 言语工作记忆(体现为数字广度倒背得分)对于语言加工更为重要。另外, 青年组的语篇理解任务和句子产生任务成绩能够显著地相互预测, 而老年组中却未观察到这种现象。这可能来自于青年人在句子产生任务中有时倾向于产生较短但正确完整的句子, 这种化繁为简的能力降低了所产生的句子的复杂性, 但却有利于他们完成语篇理解任务。青年人在面对语篇理解任务中较长的篇章时, 能够简化文章的逻辑, 提炼出主干信息, 有利于正确地理解语篇内容。老年人由于一般认知能力的下降和语义丰富度的增强, 在句子产生任务中所产生的句子比较长, 但其句法结构和语义表达更容易出错。这一实验结果与我们所采取的句子产生任务有密切关系, 下一步的研究需要采取各种句子产生任务对此结果进行验证。

从一般认知能力或语言能力对组间差异的预测来看, 控制二者中的任意一种均能够导致组别的解释量变小。除词汇理解任务外, 其他5项任务在控制了一般认知能力和另一类语言能力之后, 组别的解释量仍然显著, 即仍存在组间差异。这些结果表明, 一般认知因素和语言特异性因素都能预测语言能力的衰退。回归分析的结果表明, 一般认知因素在语言能力的老化中体现在, 控制一般认知能力之后组别对每项任务的解释量均减小。语言特异性因素在语言能力的老化中体现在两个方面:第一, 在控制语言理解能力或语言产生能力之后, 青年组与老年组之间的差异(组别)对语言任务变异的解释量减小, 这说明两种语言能力在衰退中具有相互影响, 这种贡献是在控制了一般认知能力的前提之下的。第二, 即便控制了一般认知能力和另一类语言能力, 组别仍对绝大多数语言任务具有解释力, 即这些语言任务所反映的语言能力在青年被试和老年被试间具有特异性。唯一的例外是词汇理解任务。该任务在控制了一般认知能力和语言产生能力之后, 组间差异不再显著。这可能是由于该任务与测量加工速度的任务(尤其是数字判断任务)具有高度相似性所导致的。两种任务都涉及简单语义信息的提取(Boudiaf et al., 2018) (在数字判断任务中为数字奇偶性, 在词汇理解任务中为词汇生命性), 并且都需要被试通过双手按键反应。这种高度的相似性可能导致了两种任务在青年组被试中的高相关, 以及一般认知能力变量对该任务表现的高解释力。我们在回归模型间计算了ΔΔR²来探究控制一般认知能力和语言能力对于组别解释量的影响, 发现在全部6项语言任务中, 一般认知能力的影响(模型2中的ΔΔR²)始终大于另一种语言能力(模型3中的ΔΔR²) (见表6表7)。因此我们推断, 在语言能力的衰退中一般认知能力为语言能力提供了加工的“硬件”系统, 在语言加工中起了很重要的作用, 会约束或限制语言的加工过程和语言能力的发展。同时, 语言特异性因素仍然对语言加工过程和语言能力有独特的贡献, 这表明语言能力的老化既是一个语言非特异性过程, 也是一个语言特异性过程。

我们注意到, 对具体某项认知能力的依赖程度受到具体实验任务设置的影响。本研究中, 由于词汇理解任务难度较小, 采用正确率不能很好地反映被试的能力, 因此我们采用反应时作为词汇理解能力的指标。这使得该任务对于加工速度(同样采用反应时作为指标)的依赖更大。下一步的研究可以参考其他有关词汇理解和句子产生的实验范式, 选用更为优化的指标, 降低其对于某一种认知能力的依赖程度。在句子产生任务中, 我们采用了“被试一旦开口发音, 所呈现的词就消失”的设置。这是为了更好地探测句子的计划和编码过程, 即被试在开口说话前计划了哪些内容。但是, 词语的消失会增加被试的记忆负担。在下一步的研究中, 可以设置不同难度(例如对记忆要求不同)的句子产生任务, 通过实验设计考察一般认知资源的变化对语言加工过程的影响。根据联合国经济和社会事务部(2019)的统计, 预计到2050年全世界每6人中就有1人年龄在65岁以上, 保护老年人的认知能力和语言能力对于提高他们的生活质量至关重要。我们的研究首次探索了一般认知能力、语言理解和语言产生能力之间的关系, 尤其关注了老年人与青年人之间的差异。研究结果对于延缓老年人的衰老, 保护老年人的认知功能, 改善老年人日常生活的交流质量具有一定的指导作用。在临床领域, 这项研究对于针对老年人的认知能力和语言能力的量表编制等工作具有借鉴意义。

5 结论

本研究发现了青年人和老年人的语言理解能力和语言产生能力都存在差异, 且差异在词汇、句子和语篇水平的理解和产生任务中表现不同。老年人的各项语言任务得分均低于青年人, 而且一般认知能力和语言特异能力对语言任务表现的贡献模式在青年人和老年人间也具有不同。控制一般认知能力或语言能力都能缩小组间差异, 但在大多数任务中即便将二者均加以控制, 组间差异仍然显著。这些发现表明, 语言能力的老化是语言非特异性因素和特异性因素共同作用的结果, 且语言非特异性因素的贡献更大。

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A total of 50 elderly individuals and 48 college students were tested on several measures of processing speed and of working memory capacity. Language processing was tested with an on-line measure of sentence processing efficiency, an end-of-sentence acceptability judgement task, and a paragraph comprehension test. Elderly individuals performed more poorly than college students on the speed of processing and working memory measures and had longer listening times overall on the sentence processing measures. Elderly individuals did not, however, have overall longer listening times at the most capacity-demanding regions of the harder sentence types. Correlational analyses failed to establish a relationship between the increase in syntactic processing load at the capacity-demanding region of the harder sentence type and the measures of working memory capacity, but did establish a relationship between paragraph comprehension and working memory capacity. The data are argued to provide evidence that the WM system used to structure sentences syntactically is separate from that used in other aspects of language comprehension.

Clark L. J., Gatz M., Zheng L., Chen Y. L., McCleary C., & Mack W. J . (2009).

Longitudinal verbal fluency in normal aging, preclinical, and prevalent Alzheimer’s disease

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias, 24(6), 461-468.

DOI:10.1177/1533317509345154      URL     PMID:19759254      [本文引用: 2]

Few longitudinal studies evaluate differences in patterns of change of category compared to letter fluency across the spectrum of cognitive impairment.

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Working memory and language comprehension: A meta-analysis

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3(4), 422-433.

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This paper presents a meta-analysis of the data from 6,179 participants in 77 studies that investigated the association between working-memory capacity and language comprehension ability. A primary goal of the meta-analysis was to compare the predictive power of the measures of working memory developed by Daneman and Carpenter (1980) with the predictive power of other measures of working memory. The results of the meta-analysis support Daneman and Carpenter's (1980) claim that measures that tap the combined processing and storage capacity of working memory (e.g., reading span, listening span) are better predictors of comprehension than are measures that tap only the storage capacity (e.g., word span, digit span). The meta-analysis also showed that math process plus storage measures of working memory are good predictors of comprehension. Thus, the superior predictive power of the process plus storage measures is not limited to measures that involve the manipulation of words and sentences.

de Beni R., Borella E., & Carretti B . (2007).

Reading comprehension in aging: The role of working memory and metacomprehension

Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 14(2), 189-212.

DOI:10.1080/13825580500229213      URL     PMID:17364380      [本文引用: 2]

This study examines age-related differences in reading comprehension analyzing the role of working memory and metacomprehension components in a sample of young (18-30 years), young-old (65-74 years), and old-old (75-85 years) participants. Text comprehension abilities were measured by a standardized test, including two texts: a narrative and an expository text. The elderly's reading comprehension performance, when compared to the norm, emerged to be adequate. More specifically, the young-old showed an equivalent level of comprehension as the young adults for the narrative text. However, a clear age-related decline was found in the case of the expository text. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that working memory capacity, as well as different metacomprehension components but not age, are the key aspects in explaining the different patterns of changes in the comprehension of narrative and expository texts.

DeDe G., Caplan D., Kemtes K., & Waters G . (2004).

The relationship between age, verbal working memory, and language comprehension

Psychology and Aging, 19(4), 601-616.

DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.19.4.601      URL     PMID:15584786      [本文引用: 1]

A structural modeling approach was used to examine the relationships between age, verbal working memory (vWM), and 3 types of language measures: online syntactic processing, sentence comprehension, and text comprehension. The best-fit model for the online-processing measure revealed a direct effect of age on online sentence processing, but no effect mediated through vWM. The best-fit models for sentence and text comprehension included an effect of age mediated through vWM and no direct effect of age. These results indicate that the relationship among age, vWM, and comprehension differs depending on the measure of language processing and support the view that individual differences in vWM do not affect individuals' online syntactic processing.

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Language, Cognition and Aging, 107-133.

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The impact of semantic memory organization and sentence context information on spoken language processing by younger and older adults: An ERP study

Psychophysiology, 39(2), 133-146.

DOI:10.1017/S0048577202001373      URL     PMID:12212662      [本文引用: 1]

To examine changes in semantic memory organization and use during aging, we recorded event-related potentials as younger and older adults listened to sentences ending with the expected word, an unexpected word from the same semantic category, or an unexpected word from a different category. Half of the contexts were highly constraining. In both groups, expected words elicited less negativity 300-500 ms (N400) than unexpected ones, and unexpected words elicited smaller N400s when these were categorically related. Whereas younger adults showed the greatest N400 reduction to unexpected but related words in high constraint contexts, older adults showed the opposite tendency. Thus, unlike younger adults, older adults as a group do not seem to be using context predictively. Older adults with higher verbal fluency and larger vocabularies, however, showed the younger response pattern, suggesting resource availability may offset certain age-related changes.

Gaskell G. M. . (2007). Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics. Oxford University Press.

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Journal of Gerontology, 47(4), 266-272.

DOI:10.1093/geronj/47.4.p266      URL     PMID:1624704      [本文引用: 1]

Middle-aged and elderly healthy subjects were interviewed informally, and their discourse productions were analyzed to test for age-related changes in language-specific, microlinguistic, and in higher order organizational, macrolinguistic abilities. No significant age differences were found on microlinguistic measures, including syntactic complexity and syntactic and lexical production errors, and there were also no age differences in the use of lexical cohesive ties, such as anaphora. Older subjects, however, obtained significantly lower ratings on a macrolinguistic measure of global thematic coherence. Elderly subjects failed to maintain coherent reference to the general topic of discourse, although they preserved coherent meaning relationships between contiguous utterances. These results are most compatible with the view that age-related performance declines on language tasks primarily reflect changes in macrolinguistic abilities that require integration of linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive processes, rather than changes in language-specific cognitive processes.

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Chicago: Stoelting.

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Category norms: A comparison of the Battig and Montague (1969) norms with the responses of adults between the ages of 20 and 80

Journal of Gerontology, 35(2), 225-231.

DOI:10.1093/geronj/35.2.225      URL     PMID:7410780      [本文引用: 2]

In order to determine whether category norms collected from college students are appropriate for research with older adults, 25 men and 25 women in each of three age groups, Young (20 to 39 years), Middle (40 to 59 years) and Old (60 to 79 years), were asked to produce as many category members as possible for each of 21 categories chosen from those included in the Battig and Montague (1969) norms. The correlations between the responses of the present subjects and Battig and Montague's were high for all three age groups studied. It is concluded that for most of the categories studied here, it is appropriate to use the Battig and Montague norms when choosing stimuli for experiments with middle-aged and elderly adults. Additional analyses revealed that the Old group produced fewer responses per person per category than the Young and Middle groups. Analyses of between-subject variability indicated that the subjects in the Old group were less likely than the younger subjects to produce unique, idiosyncratic responses.

Huijbers W., Papp K. V., LaPoint M., Wigman S. E., Dagley A., Hedden T., .. Sperling R. A . (2016).

Age-related increases in tip-of-the-tongue are distinct from decreases in remembering names: A functional MRI study

Cerebral Cortex, 27(9), 4339-4349.

DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhw234      URL     PMID:27578492     

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experiences increase with age and frequently heighten concerns about memory decline. We studied 73 clinically normal older adults participating in the Harvard Aging Brain Study. They completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task that required remembering names associated with pictures of famous faces. Older age was associated with more self-reported TOT experiences and a decrease in the percentage of remembered names. However, the percentage of TOT experiences and the percentage of remembered names were not directly correlated. We mapped fMRI activity for recollection of famous names and TOT and examined activity in the hippocampal formation, retrosplenial cortex, and lateral prefrontal cortex. The hippocampal formation was similarly activated in recollection and TOT experiences. In contrast, the retrosplenial cortex was most active for recollection and lateral prefrontal cortex was most active for TOT experiences. Together, the results confirm that age-related increases in TOT experiences are not only solely the consequence of age-related decline in recollection, but also likely reflect functional alterations in the brain networks that support retrieval monitoring and cognitive control. These findings provide behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that age-related TOT experiences and memory failure are partially independent processes.

Ito T., Tiede M., & Ostry D. J . (2009).

Somatosensory function in speech perception

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(4), 1245-1248.

DOI:10.1073/pnas.0810063106      URL     PMID:19164569      [本文引用: 1]

Somatosensory signals from the facial skin and muscles of the vocal tract provide a rich source of sensory input in speech production. We show here that the somatosensory system is also involved in the perception of speech. We use a robotic device to create patterns of facial skin deformation that would normally accompany speech production. We find that when we stretch the facial skin while people listen to words, it alters the sounds they hear. The systematic perceptual variation we observe in conjunction with speech-like patterns of skin stretch indicates that somatosensory inputs affect the neural processing of speech sounds and shows the involvement of the somatosensory system in the perceptual processing in speech.

James L. E., & Burke D. M . (2000).

Phonological priming effects on word retrieval and tip-of-the-tongue experiences in young and older adults

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(6), 1378-1391.

DOI:10.1037//0278-7393.26.6.1378      URL     PMID:11185771      [本文引用: 2]

In a repetition priming paradigm, young and older participants read aloud prime words that sometimes shared phonological components with a target word that answered a general knowledge question. In Experiment 1, prior processing of phonologically related words decreased tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) and increased correct responses to subsequent questions. In Experiment 2, the priming task occurred only when the participant could not answer the question. Processing phonologically related words increased correct recall, but only when the participant was in a TOT state. Phonological priming effects were age invariant, although older adults produced relatively more TOTs. Results support the transmission deficit model that the weak connections among phonological representations that cause TOTs are strengthened by production of phonologically related words. There was no evidence that phonologically related words block TOT targets.

Jones G. V., & Langford S . (1987).

Phonological blocking in the tip of the tongue state

Cognition, 26(2), 115-122.

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Language and aging

In F. I. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 213-270). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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Language decline across the life span: Findings from the nun study

Psychology and Aging, 16(2), 227-239.

URL     PMID:11405311      [本文引用: 2]

The present study examines language samples from the Nun Study. Measures of grammatical complexity and idea density were obtained from autobiographies written over a 60-year span. Participants who had met criteria for dementia were contrasted with those who did not. Grammatical complexity initially averaged 4.78 (on a 0-to-7-point scale) for participants who did not meet criteria for dementia and declined .04 units per year; grammatical complexity for participants who met criteria for dementia initially averaged 3.86 and declined .03 units per year. Idea density averaged 5.35 propositions per 10 words initially for participants who did not meet criteria for dementia and declined an average of .03 units per year, whereas idea density averaged 4.34 propositions per 10 words initially for participants who met criteria for dementia and declined .02 units per year. Adult experiences, in general, did not moderate these declines.

Kemper S., Herman R. E., & Lian C . (2003).

Age differences in sentence production

The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58(5), P260-P268.

[本文引用: 2]

Kemper S., Herman R. E., & Liu C. J . (2004).

Sentence production by younger and older adults in controlled contexts

The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59(5), 220-224.

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Acta Psychologica Sinica, 37(1), 34-40.

[本文引用: 1]

[ 李晓庆, 杨玉芳 (2005).

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Intellectual functioning in old and very old age: Cross-sectional results from the Berlin aging study

Psychology and Aging, 12(3), 410-432.

DOI:10.1037//0882-7974.12.3.410      URL     PMID:9308090     

This study documents age trends, interrelations, and correlates of intellectual abilities in old and very old age (70-103 years) from the Berlin Aging Study (N = 516). Fourteen tests were used to assess 5 abilities: reasoning, memory, and perceptual speed from the mechanic (broad fluid) domain and knowledge and fluency from the pragmatic (broad crystallized) domain. Intellectual abilities had negative linear age relations, with more pronounced age reductions in mechanic than in pragmatic abilities. Interrelations among intellectual abilities were highly positive and did not follow the mechanic-pragmatic distinction. Sociobiographical indicators were less closely linked to intellectual functioning than sensory-sensorimotor variables, which predicted 59% of the total reliable variance in general intelligence. Results suggest that aging-induced biological factors are a prominent source of individual differences in intelligence in old and very old age.

Liu Y. Y., Hao M. L., Li P., & Shu H . (2011).

Timed picture naming norms for Mandarin Chinese

Plos One, 6(1), e16505.

DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0016505      URL     PMID:21298065      [本文引用: 1]

The present study reports timed norms for 435 object pictures in Mandarin Chinese. These data include naming latency, name agreement, concept agreement, word length, and age of acquisition (AoA) based on children's naming and adult ratings, and several other adult ratings of concept familiarity, subjective word frequency, image agreement, image variability, and visual complexity. Furthermore, we examined factors that influence the naming latencies of the pictures. The results show that concept familiarity, AoA, concept agreement, name agreement, and image agreement are significant predictors of naming latencies, whereas subjective word frequency is not a reliable determinant. These results are discussed in light of picture naming data in other languages. An item-based index for the norms is provided in the Table S1.

MacKay D. G., & Abrams L . (1998).

Age-linked declines in retrieving orthographic knowledge: Empirical, practical, and theoretical implications

Psychology and Aging, 13(4), 647-662.

DOI:10.1037//0882-7974.13.4.647      URL     PMID:9883464      [本文引用: 1]

This study developed and tested a Transmission Deficit hypothesis of how aging affects retrieval of orthographic knowledge. Young, older, and very old adults heard a tape-recorded series of difficult-to-spell words of high and low frequency, spoken slowly, clearly and repeatedly, and wrote down each word at their own pace. With perceptual errors and vocabulary differences factored out, misspellings increased with aging, especially for high-frequency words. In addition, data from a metamemory questionnaire indicated that the oldest adults were aware of their declining ability to spell. These findings were not due to general slowing, educational factors, hours per week spent reading, writing, or solving crossword puzzles, or age-linked declines in monitoring or detecting self-produced errors. However, the results fit Transmission Deficit predictions, and suggested an age-linked decline in retrieval of orthographic knowledge that resembles age-linked declines in spoken word retrieval observed in many other studies. Practical implications of this age-linked decline for conceptions of normal aging are noted.

MacKay D. G., Abrams L., & Pedroza M. J . (1999).

Aging on the input versus output side: Theoretical implications of age-linked asymmetries between detecting versus retrieving orthographic information

Psychology and Aging, 14(1), 3-17.

DOI:10.1037//0882-7974.14.1.3      URL     PMID:10224628      [本文引用: 1]

This experiment tested for age-linked asymmetries predicted under Node Structure theory (NST; D. G. MacKay &amp;amp; D. M. Burke, 1990) between detecting versus retrieving orthographic information. Older adults detected that briefly presented words were correctly spelled (e.g., endeavor) or misspelled (e.g., endeavuor) as readily as did young adults. However, they were less able than young adults to retrieve the correctly and incorrectly spelled words that they had seen. These age-linked asymmetries were not due to educational factors, stimulus characteristics, sensory-level factors, task complexity, floor or ceiling effects, general slowing, or cohort-related activities, but they were consistent with NST predictions and with similar asymmetries in a wide range of other studies. By contrast, repetition deficits in detecting and retrieving repeated- versus unrepeated-letter misspellings (e.g., elderdly vs. elderkly) were symmetrical or equivalent in magnitude for young and older adults. Implications for a wide range of theories of cognitive aging and of repetition deficits are discussed.

Madden D. J . (1988).

Adult age differences in the effects of sentence context and stimulus degradation during visual word recognition

Psychology and Aging, 3(2), 167-172.

DOI:10.1037//0882-7974.3.2.167      URL     PMID:3268255      [本文引用: 1]

I investigated adult age differences in the efficiency of feature-extraction processes during visual word recognition. Participants were 24 young adults (M age = 21.0 years) and 24 older adults (M age = 66.5 years). On each trial, subjects made a word/nonword discrimination (i.e., lexical decision) regarding a target letter-string that was presented as the final item of a sentence context. The target was presented either intact or degraded visually (by the presence of asterisks between adjacent letters). Age differences in lexical decisions speed were greater for degraded targets than for intact targets, suggesting an age-related slowing in the extraction of feature-level information. For degraded word targets, however, the amount of performance benefit provided by the sentence context was greater for older adults than for young adults. It thus appears that an age-related deficiency at an early stage of word recognition is accompanied by an increased contribution from semantic context.

Madden D. L., Sale M. V., & Robinson G. A . (2018).

Improved conceptual generation and selection with transcranial direct current stimulation in older adults

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 41(1), 43-57.

DOI:10.1080/13803395.2018.1491529      URL     PMID:30014766      [本文引用: 1]

Normal aging is associated with deficits in various aspects of spoken language production, including idea generation and selection, and involves activity in frontal brain areas including left inferior frontal cortex (LIFG). These conceptual preparation processes, largely involving executive control, precede formulation and articulation stages and are critical for language production. Noninvasive brain stimulation (e.g., transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS) has proven beneficial for age-related fluency and naming deficits, but this has not been extended to conceptual preparation mechanisms.

Margrett J. A., Martin P., Woodard J. L., & Poon L. W . (2016).

Cognitive and linguistic processes among oldest old persons

Cognition, Language and Aging, 193-220.

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Journal of Memory and Language, 33(1), 83-111.

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Miles S., & Chapman R. S . (2002).

Narrative content as described by individuals with Down syndrome and typically developing children

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45(1), 175-189.

DOI:10.1044/1092-4388(2002/013)      URL     PMID:14748647      [本文引用: 2]

Narratives of the wordless picture story, Frog, Where Are You?, by 33 individuals with Down syndrome and typically developing children (33 matched for mental age, 33 for syntax comprehension, 33 for mean length of utterance) were analyzed for expression of plot line, story theme, and the protagonists' misadventures in the story. Despite their restricted expressive syntax and vocabulary, the group with Down syndrome expressed more plot line and thematic content and more of one of the protagonists' misadventures than the MLU controls; they most resembled the syntax comprehension control participants. We conclude that the group with Down syndrome had a conceptual understanding of the picture story similar to that of the TACL-R group and a strategy for expressing that understanding despite expressive lexical and syntactic limitations; this resulted in the expression of more narrative content than formal measures of expressive language would predict. We propose that the higher syntactic comprehension skills of the group with Down syndrome, combined with their experience with story content (listening to stories), may have contributed to their developing higher-level story schemas than would be expected given their MLUs.

Montgomery J. W . (1995).

Sentence comprehension in children with specific language impairment: The role of phonological working memory

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 38(1), 187-199.

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Morrison C. M., Hirsh K. W., Chappell T., & Ellis A. W . (2002).

Age and age of acquisition: An evaluation of the cumulative frequency hypothesis

European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 14(4), 435-459.

DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2006.03.007      URL     PMID:16777041      [本文引用: 1]

An ongoing discussion about the role of age of acquisition (AoA) in word processing concerns the confound with word frequency. This study removed possible frequency confounds by comparing AoA and word familiarity differences in young (18-23 years) and older (52-56 years) adults. A first study investigated the differences in AoA and word familiarity ratings. The norms of AoA and familiarity were significantly different for young and older adults whereas these were previously considered equivalent [Morrison, C. M., Hirsh, K. W., Chappell, T., &amp;amp; Ellis, A. W. (2002). Age and age of acquisition: An evaluation of the cumulative frequency hypothesis. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 14, 435-459]. In the second study, AoA and familiarity effects were significantly different for the older and young adults in a lexical decision task. The third study replicated these findings in a semantic artifact/naturally occurring categorization experiment, thus providing further evidence for AoA-effects when word processing requires semantic mediation. Results from both studies were in line with the hypothesis that AoA effects on word processing cannot be accounted for by word frequency or other possible confounds.

Nasreddine Z. S., Phillips N. A., Bédirian V., Charbonneau S., Whitehead V., Collin I., .. Chertkow H . (2005).

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53(4), 695-699.

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53221.x      URL     PMID:15817019     

To develop a 10-minute cognitive screening tool (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA) to assist first-line physicians in detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a clinical state that often progresses to dementia.

Nation K., Adams J. W., Bowyer-Crane C. A., & Snowling M. J . (1999).

Working memory deficits in poor comprehenders reflect underlying language impairments

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 73(2), 139-158.

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Three experiments assessed memory skills in good and poor comprehenders, matched for decoding skill. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated phonological and semantic contributions to short-term memory by comparing serial recall for words varying in length, lexicality, and concreteness. Poor comprehenders showed normal sensitivity to phonological manipulations (length and lexicality) but, consistent with their semantic weaknesses, their recall of abstract words was poor. Experiment 3 investigated verbal and spatial working memory. While poor comprehenders achieved normal spatial spans, their verbal spans were impaired. These results are discussed within a theoretical framework in which the memory difficulties associated with poor reading comprehension are specific to the verbal domain and are a concomitant of language impairment, rather than a cause of reading comprehension failure.

Park D. C., Lautenschlager G., Hedden T., Davidson N. S., Smith A. D., & Smith P. K . (2002).

Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span

Psychology and Aging, 17(2), 299-320.

URL     PMID:12061414     

The authors investigated the distinctiveness and interrelationships among visuospatial and verbal memory processes in short-term, working, and long-term memories in 345 adults. Beginning in the 20s, a continuous, regular decline occurs for processing-intensive tasks (e.g., speed of processing, working memory, and long-term memory), whereas verbal knowledge increases across the life span. There is little differentiation in the cognitive architecture of memory across the life span. Visuospatial and verbal working memory are distinct but highly interrelated systems with domain-specific short-term memory subsystems. In contrast to recent neuroimaging data, there is little evidence for dedifferentiation of function at the behavioral level in old compared with young adults. The authors conclude that efforts to connect behavioral and brain data yield a more complete understanding of the aging mind.

Payne B . (2014).

The effects of verbal working memory training on language comprehension in older adulthood (Unpublished doctoral dissertation)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Pickering M. J., & Garrod S . (2007).

Do people use language production to make predictions during comprehension?

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(3), 105-110.

DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2006.12.002      URL     PMID:17254833      [本文引用: 1]

We present the case that language comprehension involves making simultaneous predictions at different linguistic levels and that these predictions are generated by the language production system. Recent research suggests that ease of comprehending predictable elements is due to prediction rather than facilitated integration, and that comprehension is accompanied by covert imitation. We argue that comprehenders use prediction and imitation to construct an &amp;quot;emulator&amp;quot;, using the production system, and combine predictions with the input dynamically. Such a process helps to explain the rapidity of comprehension and the robust interpretation of ambiguous or noisy input. This framework is in line with a general trend in cognitive science to incorporate action systems into perceptual systems and has broad implications for understanding the links between language production and comprehension.

Pickering M. J., & Garrod S . (2013).

An integrated theory of language production and comprehension

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(4), 329-347.

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Currently, production and comprehension are regarded as quite distinct in accounts of language processing. In rejecting this dichotomy, we instead assert that producing and understanding are interwoven, and that this interweaving is what enables people to predict themselves and each other. We start by noting that production and comprehension are forms of action and action perception. We then consider the evidence for interweaving in action, action perception, and joint action, and explain such evidence in terms of prediction. Specifically, we assume that actors construct forward models of their actions before they execute those actions, and that perceivers of others' actions covertly imitate those actions, then construct forward models of those actions. We use these accounts of action, action perception, and joint action to develop accounts of production, comprehension, and interactive language. Importantly, they incorporate well-defined levels of linguistic representation (such as semantics, syntax, and phonology). We show (a) how speakers and comprehenders use covert imitation and forward modeling to make predictions at these levels of representation, (b) how they interweave production and comprehension processes, and (c) how they use these predictions to monitor the upcoming utterances. We show how these accounts explain a range of behavioral and neuroscientific data on language processing and discuss some of the implications of our proposal.

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Speed of retrieval from long-term memory in relation to age, familiarity, and datedness of information

Journal of Gerontology, 33(5), 711-717.

DOI:10.1093/geronj/33.5.711      URL     PMID:299560      [本文引用: 2]

The time required to name four groups of pictures was measured in 83 community dwelling males (18-70 years of age). One group consisted of objects used 50 to 70 years ago (unique dated exemplars), and another consisted of objects unique to contemporary times (unique contemporary exemplars). For comparison, other pictures of contemporary and dated objects commonly used in both periods were employed. There were three major findings. One, the familiarity of the pictured object is the major determinant of the time required to retrieve its name. Older subjects named the dated unique objects that were relatively more familiar to them more rapidly than did younger adults, while the reverse was true for contemporary unique objects. No age difference in the speed of naming common contemporary objects was found. Two, the overall age-related difference in naming latency was attributed to perceptual-motor aspects of the task. Three, the physical features as well as the familiarity of the object contributed to the speed of retrieval of the object's name.

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Rastle K. G., & Burke D. M . (1996).

Priming the tip of the tongue: Effects of prior processing on word retrieval in young and older adults

Journal of Memory and Language, 35(4), 586-605.

DOI:10.1037//0278-7393.26.6.1378      URL     PMID:11185771      [本文引用: 2]

In a repetition priming paradigm, young and older participants read aloud prime words that sometimes shared phonological components with a target word that answered a general knowledge question. In Experiment 1, prior processing of phonologically related words decreased tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) and increased correct responses to subsequent questions. In Experiment 2, the priming task occurred only when the participant could not answer the question. Processing phonologically related words increased correct recall, but only when the participant was in a TOT state. Phonological priming effects were age invariant, although older adults produced relatively more TOTs. Results support the transmission deficit model that the weak connections among phonological representations that cause TOTs are strengthened by production of phonologically related words. There was no evidence that phonologically related words block TOT targets.

Rayner K., Reichle E. D., Stroud M. J., Williams C. C., & Pollatsek A . (2006).

The effect of word frequency, word predictability, and font difficulty on the eye movements of young and older readers

Psychology and Aging, 21(3), 448-465.

DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.21.3.448      URL     PMID:16953709      [本文引用: 1]

Young adult and older readers' eye movements were recorded as they read sentences containing target words that varied in frequency or predictability. In addition, half of the sentences were printed in a font that was easy to read (Times New Roman) and the other half were printed in a font that was more difficult to read (Old English). Word frequency, word predictability, and font difficulty effects were apparent in the eye movement data of both groups of readers. In the fixation time data, the pattern of results was the same, but the older readers had larger frequency and predictability effects than the younger readers. The older readers skipped words more often than the younger readers (as indicated by their skipping rate on selected target words), but they made more regressions back to the target words and more regressions overall. The E-Z Reader model was used as a platform to evaluate the results, and simulations using the model suggest that lexical processing is slowed in older readers and that, possibly as a result of this, they adopt a more risky reading strategy.

Reuterlorenz P. A., & Sylvester C. Y. C .(2005). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory and Aging (pp. 186-217). Oxford University Press.

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Salthouse T. A . (1993).

Speed and knowledge as determinants of adult age differences in verbal tasks

Journal of Gerontology, 48(1), 29-36.

DOI:10.1093/geronj/48.1.p29      URL     PMID:8418147     

Two studies were conducted to determine the relative importance of processing speed and knowledge as predictors of performance in simple verbal tasks within samples of young and old adults. Eight different criterion tasks were investigated, and performance on each was found to be significantly related both to speed of processing and to quantity of word knowledge. It was also discovered that although young adults were faster than old adults and that old adults were equal or superior to young adults in relevant knowledge, the same regression equations could be used to predict criterion performance in both groups. These results therefore suggest that any age-related compensation that exists in these tasks is rather weak, in the sense that speed and knowledge appear to have the same importance in young and old adults, and only the average levels of the predictors differ as a function of age.

Salthouse T. A . (1994).

The aging of working memory

Neuropsychology, 8(4), 535-543.

DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6300(1996)8:4&amp;lt;535::AID-AJHB13&amp;gt;3.0.CO;2-N      URL     PMID:28557079      [本文引用: 2]

Familial resemblance was examined for each of the principal components arising from an analysis of six skinfolds (triceps, biceps, subscapular, abdominal, suprailiac, and medial calf) measured in 1,237 participants of the Québec Family Study. Most of the phenotypic variance among the skinfolds (83%) was accounted for by the first two principal components. Examination of the skinfold loadings on each principal component, as well as intraindividual cross-trait correlations with other body composition and fat pattern measures (body mass index; total fat mass and fat-free mass estimated from body density obtained through underwater weighing; the sum of six skinfolds; and the ratio of trunk to extremity skinfolds) support the interpretation of the first component as a general measure of adiposity and the second component as a trunk-extremity contrast. Parent-child and sibling correlations for each of the two principal components indicate that familial effects reach 46% (general) and 52% (trunk-extremity). Although the eigenvalues for the remaining four principal components (accounting for 17% of the variance) are &amp;lt;1.0, it is noteworthy that each exhibits significant familial resemblance (31-60%). Further, the intraindividual correlations for the additional four components with the other body size indicators are quite low, suggesting that they capture somewhat different aspects of relative fat distribution. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Salthouse T. A . (1996).

The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition

Psychological Review, 103(3), 403-428.

DOI:10.1037/0033-295x.103.3.403      URL     PMID:8759042      [本文引用: 1]

A theory is proposed to account for some of the age-related differences reported in measures of Type A or fluid cognition. The central hypothesis in the theory is that increased age in adulthood is associated with a decrease in the speed with which many processing operations can be executed and that this reduction in speed leads to impairments in cognitive functioning because of what are termed the limited time mechanism and the simultaneity mechanism. That is, cognitive performance is degraded when processing is slow because relevant operations cannot be successfully executed (limited time) and because the products of early processing may no longer be available when later processing is complete (simultaneity). Several types of evidence, such as the discovery of considerable shared age-related variance across various measures of speed and large attenuation of the age-related influences on cognitive measures after statistical control of measures of speed, are consistent with this theory.

Saur D., Kreher B. W., Schnell S., Kümmerer D., Kellmeyer P., Vry M. S., .. Weiller C . (2008).

Ventral and dorsal pathways for language

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(46), 18035-18040.

DOI:10.1073/pnas.0805234105      URL     PMID:19004769     

Built on an analogy between the visual and auditory systems, the following dual stream model for language processing was suggested recently: a dorsal stream is involved in mapping sound to articulation, and a ventral stream in mapping sound to meaning. The goal of the study presented here was to test the neuroanatomical basis of this model. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-based tractography method we were able to identify the most probable anatomical pathways connecting brain regions activated during two prototypical language tasks. Sublexical repetition of speech is subserved by a dorsal pathway, connecting the superior temporal lobe and premotor cortices in the frontal lobe via the arcuate and superior longitudinal fascicle. In contrast, higher-level language comprehension is mediated by a ventral pathway connecting the middle temporal lobe and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex via the extreme capsule. Thus, according to our findings, the function of the dorsal route, traditionally considered to be the major language pathway, is mainly restricted to sensory-motor mapping of sound to articulation, whereas linguistic processing of sound to meaning requires temporofrontal interaction transmitted via the ventral route.

Schaie K. W . (1994).

The course of adult intellectual development

American psychologist, 49(4), 304-313.

DOI:10.1037//0003-066x.49.4.304      URL     PMID:8203802     

A program of research is summarized that represents the author's lifelong efforts to understand the adult life course of intellectual abilities. The Seattle Longitudinal Study has assessed mental abilities in more than 5,000 adults and has followed some for as long as 35 years. Integrative findings are provided on patterns and magnitudes of age changes, cohort differences, factor structure of mental abilities, antecedents for individual differences in aging trajectories, and interventions designed to remediate cognitive aging effects.

Schaie K. W. (1996). Intellectual development in adulthood: The Seattle longitudinal study. Cambridge University Press.

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Schriefers H., Meyer A. S., & Levelt W. J. M . (1990).

Exploring the time course of lexical access in language production: Picture-word interference studies

Journal of Memory and Language, 29(1), 86-102.

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Shafto M. A., Burke D. M., Stamatakis E. A., Tam P. P., & Tyler L. K . (2007).

On the tip-of-the-tongue: Neural correlates of increased word-finding failures in normal aging.

[J] ournal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(12), 2060-2070.

DOI:10.1162/jocn.2007.19.12.2060      URL     PMID:17892392      [本文引用: 1]

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experiences are frustrating word-finding failures where people are temporarily unable to produce a word they are certain they know. TOT frequency increases with normal aging during adulthood, and behavioral evidence suggests that the underlying deficit is in retrieving the complete phonology of the target word during production. The present study investigated the neural correlates of this phonological retrieval deficit. We obtained 3-D T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) for healthy participants between 19 and 88 years old and used voxel-based morphometry to measure gray matter density throughout the brain. In a separate session, participants named celebrities cued by pictures and descriptions, indicating when they had a TOT, and also completed Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM), a task that does not involve phonological production. The number of TOTs increased with age and also with gray matter atrophy in the left insula, an area implicated in phonological production. The relation between TOTs and left insula atrophy cannot be attributed to the correlation of each variable with age because TOTs were related to insula atrophy even with age effects removed. Moreover, errors on the RPM increased with age, but performance did not correlate with gray matter density in the insula. These results provide, for the first time, an association between a region in the neural language system and the rise in age-related word-finding failures and suggest that age-related atrophy in neural regions important for phonological production may contribute to age-related word production failures.

Shafto M. A., & Tyler L. K . (2014).

Language in the aging brain: The network dynamics of cognitive decline and preservation

Science, 346(6209), 583-587.

DOI:10.1126/science.1254404      URL     PMID:25359966      [本文引用: 2]

Language is a crucial and complex lifelong faculty, underpinned by dynamic interactions within and between specialized brain networks. Whereas normal aging impairs specific aspects of language production, most core language processes are robust to brain aging. We review recent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence showing that language systems remain largely stable across the life span and that both younger and older adults depend on dynamic neural responses to linguistic demands. Although some aspects of network dynamics change with age, there is no consistent evidence that core language processes are underpinned by different neural networks in younger and older adults.

Shalom D. B., & Poeppel D . (2008).

Functional anatomic models of language: Assembling the pieces

The Neuroscientist, 14(1), 119-127.

DOI:10.1177/1073858407305726      URL     PMID:17911215      [本文引用: 2]

In the past few years, a series of influential review articles have summarized the state of the art with respect to cortical models of language organization. The present article is a mini-review and conceptual meta-analysis of several of the most prominent recent contributions. Based on the models, the authors extract some generalizations to arrive at a more robust model that 1) does justice to the range of neurological data, 2) is more connected to research in linguistics and psycholinguistics, and 3) stimulates hypothesis-driven research in this domain. In particular, the article attempts to unify a few of the current large-scale models of the functional neuroanatomy of language in a more principled manner. First, the authors argue that the relevant type of processing in a given cortical area, that is, memorizing (temporal cortex) versus analyzing (parietal) versus synthesizing (frontal), lies at the basis of local neuronal structure and function. Second, from an anatomic perspective, more dorsal regions within each of these (temporal, parietal, and frontal) systems specialize more in phonological processing, middle areas in syntactic processing, and more ventral areas in semantic processing.

Shtyrov Y . (2010).

Automaticity and attentional control in spoken language processing: Neurophysiological evidence

The Mental Lexicon, 5(2), 255-276.

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Inhibitory processes and spoken word recognition in young and older adults: the interaction of lexical competition and semantic context

Psychology and Aging, 14(3), 458-472.

DOI:10.1037//0882-7974.14.3.458      URL     PMID:10509700      [本文引用: 1]

Two experiments were conducted to examine the importance of inhibitory abilities and semantic context to spoken word recognition in older and young adults. In Experiment 1, identification scores were obtained in 3 contexts: single words, low-predictability sentences, and high-predictability sentences. Additionally, identification performance was examined as a function of neighborhood density (number of items phonetically similar to a target word). Older adults had greater difficulty than young adults recognizing words with many neighbors (hard words). However, older adults also exhibited greater benefits as a result of adding contextual information. Individual differences in inhibitory abilities contributed significantly to recognition performance for lexically hard words but not for lexically easy words. The roles of inhibitory abilities and linguistic knowledge in explaining age-related impairments in spoken word recognition are discussed.

Stine-Morrow E. A. L., Ryan S., Sandra Leonard J . (2000).

Age differences in on-line syntactic processing

Experimental Aging Research, 26(4), 315-322.

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Reading time and comprehension for subject-relative (e.g., The pilot that admired the nurse dominated the conversation) and object-relative (e.g., The pilot that the nurse admired dominated the conversation) constructions were compared among younger and older readers. Younger adults, but not older adults, differentially allocated time to the more taxing object-relative constructions. Although there were no age differences in comprehension of subject-relative constructions, older adults demonstrated lower levels of comprehension for object-relative sentences. Inconsistent with a modularity view positing preservation in &amp;quot;interpretive&amp;quot; processes with age, these results suggest that age-related differences in working-memory capacity limit responsiveness to text demands, thus compromising sentence comprehension.

Strain E., Patterson K., & Seidenberg M. S . (1995).

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Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21(5), 1140-1154.

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What develops in working memory? A life span perspective

Developmental Psychology, 35(4), 986-1000.

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This study investigated whether working-memory (WM) span differences across age are attributable to specific or general processing functions. The study compared 9 age groups (6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 24, 35, 45, 57 years) on verbal and visuospatial WM performance under initial (no probes or cues), gain (cues that bring performance to an asymptotic level), and maintenance conditions (asymptotic conditions without cues). (a) Age-related performance differences in WM were found across all conditions and were not isolated to specific processes, (b) significant performance differences remained among age groups on gain and maintenance conditions, and (c) the gain (accessing new information) and maintenance conditions (maintenance of old information) for verbal and visuospatial WM tasks contributed independent variance to age-related performance. The results support a general capacity explanation of age-related differences. These differences in capacity reflect demands placed on both the accessing of new information and the maintenance of old information.

Taler V., Aaron G. P., Steinmetz L. G., & Pisoni D. B . (2010).

Lexical neighborhood density effects on spoken word recognition and production in healthy aging

Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65(5), 551-560.

DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbq039      URL     PMID:20542997      [本文引用: 1]

We examined the effects of lexical competition and word frequency on spoken word recognition and production in healthy aging. Older (n = 16) and younger adults (n = 21) heard and repeated meaningful English sentences presented in the presence of multitalker babble at two signal-to-noise ratios, +10 and -3 dB. Each sentence contained three keywords of high or low word frequency and phonological neighborhood density (ND). Both participant groups responded less accurately to high- than low-ND stimuli; response latencies (from stimulus offset to response onset) were longer for high- than low-ND sentences, whereas response durations-time from response onset to response offset-were longer for low- than high-ND stimuli. ND effects were strongest for older adults in the most difficult conditions, and ND effects in accuracy were related to inhibitory function. The results suggest that the sentence repetition task described here taps the effects of lexical competition in both perception and production and that these effects are similar across the life span, but that accuracy in the lexical discrimination process is affected by declining inhibitory function in older adults.

Taylor J. K., & Burke D. M . (2002).

Asymmetric aging effects on semantic and phonological processes: Naming in the picture-word interference task

Psychology and Aging, 17(4), 662-676.

DOI:10.1037//0882-7974.17.4.662      URL     PMID:12507362      [本文引用: 2]

In 2 experiments, participants named pictures while ignoring auditory word distractors. For pictures with homophone names (e.g., ball), distractors semantically related to the nondepicted meaning (e.g., prom) facilitated naming by top-down phonological connections for young but not for older adults. Slowing from unrelated distractors and facilitation from phonologically related distractors were age invariant except in distractors that were both semantically and phonologically related. Only distractors semantically related to the picture interfered more for older than younger adults. These results ar einconsistent with age-linked deficits in inhibition of irrelevant information from either internal or external sources. Rather, aging affects priming transmission in a connectionist network with asymmetric effects on semantic and phonological connections involved in comprehension and production, respectively.

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Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 30(10), 1259-1272.

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Aging and vocabulary score: A meta- analysis

Psychology and Aging, 18(2), 332-339.

DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.18.2.332      URL     PMID:12825780     

Vocabulary scores were examined in a total of 210 articles, containing 324 independent pairings of younger and older adults, from the 1986-2001 issues of Psychology and Aging. The average effect size, favoring the old, was 0.80 SD. Production tests yielded smaller effects (0.68 SD) than multiple-choice tests (0.93 SD). Both age and education were found to be partially independent determinants of performance in production tests; age effects disappeared in multiple-choice tests as soon as education was taken into account. In addition, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised Vocabulary subtest (D. Wechsler, 1981) was also found to be sensitive to the Flynn effect (J. R. Flynn, 1987; i.e., increasing test scores with advancing birth year). The results question the approach of using age-group equality in vocabulary scores as a check on sample equivalence.

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The capacity theory of sentence comprehension: critique of Just and Carpenter (1992)

Psychological Review, 103(4), 761-772.

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The authors review M.A. Just and P.A. Carpenter's (1992) &amp;quot;capacity&amp;quot; theory of sentence comprehension and argue that the data cited by Just and Carpenter in support of the theory are unconvincing and that the theory is insufficiently developed to explain or predict observed patterns of results. The article outlines an alternative to the capacity theory, according to which the unconscious, obligatory operations involved in assigning the syntactic structure of a sentence do not use the same working memory resource as that required for conscious, controlled verbally mediated processes.

Waters G. S., & Caplan D . (2001).

Age, working memory, and on-line syntactic processing in sentence comprehension

Psychology and Aging, 16(1), 128-144.

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One hundred twenty-seven individuals who ranged in age from 18 to 90 years were tested on a reading span test and on measures of on-line and off-line sentence processing efficiency. Older participants had reduced working-memory spans compared with younger participants. The on-line measures were sensitive to local increases in processing load, and the off-line measures were sensitive to the syntactic complexity of the sentences. Older and younger participants showed similar effects of syntactic complexity on the on-line measures. There was some evidence that older participants were more affected than younger participants by syntactic complexity on the off-line measures. The results support the hypothesis that on-line processes involved in recognizing linguistic forms and determining the literal, preferred, discourse-coherent meaning of sentences constitute a domain of language processing that relies on its own processing resource or working-memory system.

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Psychology and Aging, 17(2), 226-235.

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This experiment investigated whether phonological priming of syllables helps resolve tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states in young and older adults. Young, young-old, and old-old adults read general knowledge questions and responded &amp;quot;know,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;TOT,&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;don't know&amp;quot; accordingly. Participants then read a list of 10 words that included 3 phonological primes corresponding solely to the first, middle, or last syllable of the target word. Young and young-old adults resolved more TOTs after first-syllable primes, but old-old adults showed no increase in TOT resolution following any primes. These results indicate that presentation of the first syllable of a missing word strengthens the weakened phonological connections that cause TOTs and increases word retrieval, but not for old-old adults who experience greater deficits in the transmission of priming across these connections.

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Aging of word frequency, syllable frequency and phonological facilitation effects in Chinese speech production

Journal of Psychological Science, 38(6), 1303-1310.

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