Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:45:26.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The influence of contextual information on the resolution of ambiguous pronouns by younger and older adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Carol L. Leonard ,
Gloria S. Waters  and
David Caplan
Carol L. Leonard*
Affiliation:
McGill University
Gloria S. Waters*
Affiliation:
McGill University
David Caplan*
Affiliation:
Massachusetts General Hospital
*
Carol L. Leonard, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, 1266 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A8, Canada
Carol L. Leonard, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, 1266 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A8, Canada
Carol L. Leonard, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, 1266 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A8, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted with the purpose of investigating possible age effects on the abilities of older and younger adults to use contextual information to resolve ambiguous pronouns. In both experiments, subjects were presented with pairs of sentences (a leading sentence followed by a pronominal sentence) and were required to indicate the referent of the ambiguous pronoun. In both experiments, the older adults responded more slowly and were less accurate than the younger adults. However, both groups of subjects were equally influenced by the contextual information available, which was located in the leading sentence to aid in the resolution of the pronouns. Older adults did not demonstrate a specific impairment in the ability to use contextual information to resolve ambiguous pronouns. Nevertheless, agerelated difficulties in resolving pronouns may emerge, possibly as a function of an underspecified discourse model.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , July 1997 , pp. 293 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Belmore, S. (1981). Age-related changes in processing explicit and implicit language. Journal of Geronwlogy. 36, 316–322.Google Scholar
Bosch, P. (1983). Agreement and anaphora: A study of the role of pronouns in syntax and discourse. London: Academic.Google Scholar
Brown, G. & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Burke, D. M. & Yee, P. L. (1984). Semantic priming during sentence processing by young and older adults. Developmental Psychology, 20, 903–910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caramazza, A., Grober, E., Garvey, C. & Yates, J. (1977). Comprehension of anaphoric pronouns. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 16, 601–609.Google Scholar
Clark, H. H. (1973). The language-as-a-fixed-effect fallacy: A critique of language statistics in psychological research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 335–359.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. (1979). Language comprehension in old age. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 412–429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, G. (1981). Inferential reasoning in old age. Cognition, 9, 59–72.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. & Faulkner, D. (1983). Word recognition: Age differences in contextual facilitation effects. British Journal of Psychology, 74, 239–251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, G. & Faulkner, D. (1984). Memory for text: Some age differences in the nature of the information that is retained after listening to texts. In Bouma, H. & Bouwhuis, D. G. (Eds.), Attention and performance X: Control of language processes (pp. 501–513). London: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Craik, F. I. M. & Byrd, M. (1982). Aging and cognitive deficits: The role of attentional resources. In Craik, F. I. M. & Trehub, S. (Eds.), Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 191–211). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craik, F. I. M. & Rabinowitz, J. C. (1984). Age differences in the acquisition and use of verbal information: A tutorial review. In Bouma, H. & Bouwhuis, D. G. (Eds.), Attention and performance X: Control of language processes (pp. 471–499). London: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, K. (1980). Comprehension of pronouns. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 247–255.Google Scholar
Eysenck, M. W. & Eysenck, M. C. (1979). Processing depth, elaboration of encoding, memory stores, and expended processing capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Human Learning and Memory, 5, 472–484.Google Scholar
Garnham, A., Oakhill, J. & Cruttenden, H. (1992). The role of implicit causality and gender cue in the interpretation of pronouns. Language and Cognitive Processes, 7, 231–255.Google Scholar
Garrod, S. & Sanford, A. J. (1985). On the real-time character of interpretation during reading. Language and Cognitive Processes, 1, 43–59.Google Scholar
Garvey, C. & Caramazza, A. (1974). Implicit causality in verbs. Linguistic Inquiry, 5, 459–464.Google Scholar
Garvey, C., Caramazza, A., & Yates, J. (1976). Factors influencing assignment of pronoun antecedents. Cognition, 3, 227–243.Google Scholar
Glosser, G., & Deser, T. (1992). A comparison of changes in macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects of discourse production in normal aging. Journal of Gerontology, 47, P 266–272.Google Scholar
Grober, E. H., Beardsley, W. & Caramazza, A. (1978). Parallel function strategy in pronoun assignment. Cognition, 6, 117–133.Google Scholar
Hamm, V. P. & Hasher, L. (1992). Age and the availability of inferences. Psychology and Aging, 7, 56–64.Google Scholar
Hess, T. M. (1984). Effects of semantically related and unrelated contexts on recognition memory of different-aged adults. Journal of Gerontology, 39, 444–451.Google Scholar
Hess, T. M. (1985). Aging and context influences on recognition memory for typical and atypical script actions. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1139–1151.Google Scholar
Hess, T. M. & Higgins, J. N. (1983). Context utilization in young and old adults. Journal of Gerontology, 38, 65–71.Google Scholar
Hirst, W. & Brill, G. A. (1980). Contextual aspects of pronoun assignment. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 168–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, K. A., Kellas, G. & Paul, S. T. (1995). Scope of word meaning activation during sentence processing by young and older adults. Experimental Aging Research, 21, 123–142.Google Scholar
Kahn, H. J., & Till, R. E. (1991). Pronoun reference and aging. Developmental Neuropsychology, 7, 459–475.Google Scholar
LeDoux, J. F., Blum, C. & Hirst, W. (1983). Inferential processing of context: Studies of cognitively impaired subjects. Brain and Language, 19, 216–224.Google Scholar
Light, L. L. & Albertson, S. A. (1988). Comprehension of pragmatic implications in young and older adults. In Light, L. L. & Burke, D. M (Eds.), Language, memory and aging (pp. 133–153). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Light, L. L. & Anderson, P. A. (1983). Memory for scripts in young and older adults. Memory and Cognition, 11, 435–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Light, L. L. & Anderson, P. A. (1985). Working-memory capacity, age, and memory for discourse. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 737–747.Google Scholar
Light, L. L. & Capps, J. L. (1986). Comprehension of pronouns in young and older adults. Developmental Psychology, 22, 580–585.Google Scholar
Light, L. L., Capps, J. L., Singh, A. & Owens, S. A. (1994). Comprehension and use of anaphoric devices in young and older adults. Discourse Processes, 18, 77–103.Google Scholar
Light, L. L., Valencia-Laver, D. & Zavis, D. (1991). Instantiation of general terms in young and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 6, 337–351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Light, L. L., Zelinski, E. M. & Moore, M. (1982). Adult age differences in reasoning from new information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 8, 435–447.Google Scholar
Madden, D. J. (1988). Adult age differences in the effects of sentence context and stimulus degradation during visual word recognition. Psychology and Aging, 3, 167–172.Google Scholar
Morrow, D., Altieri, P. & Leirer, V. (1992). Aging, narrative organization, presentation mode, and referent choice strategies. Experimental Aging Research, 18, 75–84.Google Scholar
North, A. J., Ulatowska, H. K., Macaluso-Haynes, S., & Bell, H. (1986). Discourse performance in older adults. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 23, 267–283.Google Scholar
Paul, S. T. (1996). Search for semantic inhibition failure during sentence comprehension by younger and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 11, 10–20.Google Scholar
Pratt, M. W.. Boyes, C., Robins, S., & Manchester, J. (1989). Telling tales: Aging, working memory, and the narrative cohesion of story retellings. Developmental Psychology, 25, 628–635.Google Scholar
Sanford, A. J. & Garrod, S. C. (1989). What, when, and how? Questions of immediacy in anaphoric reference resolution. Language and Cognitive Processes, 4, SI 235–262.Google Scholar
Schneider, W. (1988). Micro Experimental Laboratory: An integrated system for IBM PC compatibles. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 20, 206–217.Google Scholar
Stevenson, R. J., & Vitkovitch, M. (1986). The comprehension of anaphoric relations. Language and Speech, 29, 335–360.Google Scholar
Till, R. E. (1985). Verbatim and inferential memory in young and elderly adults. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 316–323.Google Scholar
Tyler, L., & Marslen-Wilson, W. (1982). The resolution of discourse anaphors: Some on-line studies. Text, 2, 263–291.Google Scholar
Ulatowska, H. K., Hayashi, M. M., Cannito, M. P. & Fleming, S. G. (1986). Disruption of reference in aging. Brain and Language, 28, 24–41.Google Scholar
Vonk, W. (1985a). The immediacy of inferences in the understanding of pronouns. In Rickheit, B. & Strohner, H. (Eds.), Inferences in text processing (pp. 205–218). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Vonk, W. (1985b). On the purpose of reading and the immediacy of processing pronouns. In Groner, R., McConkie, G. W. & Menz, C. (Eds.), Eye movements and human information processing (pp. 207–215). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Zacks, R. & Hasher, L. (1988). Capacity theory and processing of inferences. In Light, L. L. & Burke, D. M. (Eds.), Language, memory and aging. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zacks, R., Hasher, L., Doren, B., Hamm, V. & Attig, M. S. (1987). Encoding and memory of explicit and implicit information. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 418–422.Google Scholar
Zelinski, E. M. & Miura, S. A. (1990). Anaphor comprehension in younger and older adults. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 31, 111–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed