María Soledad Rodríguez

Narrative speech in aging: Quantity, information content, and cohesion

This study examined age-related changes in narrative speech of 79 adults aged 40-91 who told stories from their pictorial representations. Quantity, information content and cohesion of narratives were analysed using a detailed transcription and codification system. We carried out a LISREL analysis to study relationships between narrative performance and age, level of education and verbal capacity. Our results showed that aging increases quantity, reduces density of informational content and cohesive reference of narratives and increases the units of irrelevant content. Verbal capacity measured by a vocabulary test improves content and cohesion. The implications of the findings for the cognitive deficit and pragmatic change explanations of narrative speech are discussed.

Lexical knowledge and lexical retrieval in ageing: Insights from a tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) study

Elderly people experience more failures in word form access (tip-of-the-tongue events, ‘TOTs’) than young people. There is general agreement that TOTs are signs of cognitive decline in older people, but because of the diversity and ambiguity involved in measuring TOTs, certain questions regarding age-related trends in semantic access remain unsolved. Age-related increases in vocabulary may raise the level of efficiency of access to semantic representations and compensate for lexical access failures. We explore the relationships between lexical knowledge and lexical retrieval in ageing by re-examining the data obtained by Juncos-Rabadán et al. on TOTs induced in 140 volunteers aged from 19 to 82 years. We found that older adults displayed significantly more difficulty in accessing the phonological representations of personal names, but not those of common nouns. The results revealed greater semantic access efficiency in older participants. We discuss the findings in light of the transmission deficit theory of TOT production.

Tip-of-the-tongue in aging: influence of vocabulary, working memory and processing speed.

Background and aims: It is well known that tip-of-the-tongue (ToT) states, which are due to failure in the phonological activation of words, especially proper names, are more common in older than in younger adults. Nevertheless, the relationship between increased numbers of ToTs and cognitive aging remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to clarify this relationship by examining ToT production and the performance of cognitive tasks such as working memory and processing speed tests. Methodology: In order to study the relationships between these constructs, the performance of 133 participants in different language, working memory and processing speed tasks was analysed by use of LISREL software. Results: The best fit model included direct and indirect effects of age, mediated by cognitive variables, on lexical production variables. The model incorporated the indirect effects of age on vocabulary through working memory and also the indirect effect of age on ToT through processing speed. Conclusion: The results indicate negative modulation of slowed processing in the age-related increase of ToT and positive modulation of working memory in vocabulary, as well as an absence of any relation between vocabulary and ToT. Assuming that ToT events involve controlled processes, the relationship between slowed processing and ToT in aging could be interpreted as reflecting controlled compensatory mechanisms.

Estereotipos regionales y nacionales: del conocimiento individual a la sociedad pensante

ResumenEste trabajo pretende descubrir la estructura subyacente a la percepcion que los sujetos gallegos tienen de diferentes estereotipos regionales y nacionales (i. e. andaluces, castellanos, vascos, europeos, espanoles, catalanes y gallegos). Este objetivo sera contemplado desde un modelo de distancia espacial, el Escalamiento Multidimensional, que nos permitiria estudiar la distancia psicologica entre los diferentes grupos, en la configuracion espacial ofrecida por el modelo. Los resultados apuntan a una doble dimensionalidad: competencia personal y valores sociales, a la hora de valorar a los diferentes estereotipos. Ademas esta dimensionalidad se mantiene a traves de las distintas submuestras utilizadas: orientacion politica de derecha vs. de izquierda, universitarios—no universitarios, hombres—mujeres, dando cuenta de la estabilidad de los estereotipos, y de la dimension social de los mismos.

Memoria operativa, atención selectiva y velocidad de procesamiento. Una aportación al debate sobre el deterioro del funcionamiento cognitivo en la vejez.

espanolMemoria operativa, atencion selectiva y velocidad de procesamiento son los tres aspectos del funcionamiento cognitivo a los que con mayor frecuencia se apela para construir modelos explicativos que den cuenta del descenso del rendimiento cognitivo en la vejez. En este articulo estudiamos las relaciones entre ellos, y exploramos la hipotesis de que la velocidad con la que se ejecutan los procesos cognitivos mas basicos ejerza un efecto mediador entre la edad y la atencion selectiva/procesos inhibitorios y la memoria operativa, afectando a la eficacia con la que se ejecutan gran cantidad de operaciones mentales. Aplicamos seis tareas a un total de 79 sujetos, con bajo nivel educativo y edades comprendidas entre los 40 y los 91 anos, con la finalidad de evaluar el funcionamiento de los tres aspectos cognitivos mencionados. Los resultados obtenidos a partir de un analisis LISREL nos permiten considerar un modelo estructural que confirma la existencia de un elevado grado de relacion entre los tres aspectos cognitivos considerados y apoya la hipotesis de que la velocidad de procesamiento funciona como un eficaz mediador entre, por una parte, la edad y, por la otra, la atencion selectiva/procesos inhibitorios y la memoria operativa. EnglishWorking memory, selective attention and processing speed are the three cognitive aspects around which the more important models of congnitive aging have been built. In this paper, we study the relationships among these aspects and we explore the hypothesis that the processing speed is a mediator between age and, both working memory and selective attention/inhibitory control, affecting the eficiency in a wide range of cognitive operations. We carried out an experimental study with 79 normal subjects aged between 40 and 91 years. The results taken out from LISREL analysis show strong relations among the three considered aspects and support the mediational hypothesis on speed processing in cognitive aging.