Comprehension and storage of sequentially presented radio news items by healthy elderly

Bonini, Milena Vaz; Mansur, Letícia Lessa

doi:10.1590/S1980-57642009DN30200009

Abstract

In the normal aging processes, complaints of memory loss and auditory comprehension are not uncommon, principally in complex and cognitively demanding situations.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to investigate skills of discourse comprehension and retention in a natural situation, by healthy aged in relation to variables such as age, schooling and cognitive screening measurement.

Methods:

Thirty healthy elderly participated in the study (mean age=73.56 yrs; SD=6.26 and mean schooling=8.6 yrs; SD=4.41). Twelve news items were recorded and presented in three sequences of four news-groups. Participants were instructed to listen to the four news items, and upon completion were questioned about one of them.

Results:

We found no age or schooling effect on the performance of the subjects. The participants achieved almost full scores on all answers (ceiling effect).

Discussion:

The heterogeneity of elderly and cognitive compensation in natural situations could explain these results of elderly behavior.

Key words:
language; elderly; cognition.

Resumo

No processo de envelhecimento, queixas sobre declínio de memória e dificuldades de compreensão auditiva não são raras, principalmente em situações complexas e com maior demanda cognitiva.

Objetivos:

O objetivo do estudo foi investigar habilidades de compreensão e retenção de discurso por idosos, em situações naturais, considerando as variáveis: idade, escolaridade e medida cognitiva.

Métodos:

30 idosos participaram do estudo (média de idade=73,56; desvio padrão=6,26 e média de escolaridade=8,6; desvio padrão=4.41). Doze noticias foram gravadas e apresentadas em três seqüências de quatro grupos cada. Os participantes foram instruídos a ouvir as seqüências e ao final foram questionados sobre uma das notícias.

Resultados:

Não foram encontrados efeitos de idade ou escolaridade na perfórmance dos participantes. Notou-se efeito teto em todos os escores.

Discussão:

A heterogeneidade do envelhecimento e compensações cognitivas em situações naturais poderiam explicar o comportamento dos idosos da amostra.

Palavras-chave:
linguagem; idosos; cognição.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text available only in PDF format.

References

¹
Zekveld AA, Kramer SE, Kessens JM, Vlaming MS, Houtgast T. The benefit obtained from visually displayed text from an automatic speech recognizer during listening to speech presented in noise. Ear Hear 2008;29:838-852.
²
Schneider BA, Li L, Daneman M. How competing speech interferes with speech comprehension in everyday listening situations. J Am Acad Audiol 2007;18:559-572.
³
Thompson L, Garcia E, Malloy D. Reliance on visible speech cues during multimodal language processing: individual and age differences. Exp Aging Res 2007;33:373-97.
⁴
Pichora-Fuller MK. Cognitive aging and auditory information processing. Int J Audiol 2003;42(Suppl 2):2S26-32.
⁵
Fernandes MA, Grady C. Age differences in susceptibility to memory interference during recal of categorizable but not unrelated word lists. Exp Aging Res 2008;34:297-322.
⁶
Golomb JD, Peelle JE, Addis KM, Kahana MJ, Wingfield A. Effects of adult aging on utilization of temporal and semantic associations during free and serial recall. Mem Cognit 2008; 36:947-56.
⁷
Xu J, Kemeny S, Park G, Frattali C, Braun A. Language in context: emergent features of word, sentence, and narrative comprehension. Neuroimage 2005; 25:1002-1015.
⁸
Yarkoni T, Speer NK, Zacks JM. Neural substrates of narrative comprehension. Neuroimage 2008;41:1408-1425.
⁹
Gilchrist AL, Cowan N, Naveh-Benjamin M. Working memory capacity for spoken sentences decreases with adult ageing: recall of fewer but not smaller chunks in older adults. Memory 2008;16:773-87.
¹⁰
Yasuda K, Nakamura T, Beckman B. Comprehension and Storage of Four Serially Presented Radio News Stories by Mild Aphasic Subjects. Brain Lang 2000;75:399-415.
¹¹
Ryan EB. Normal Aging and Language. In: Lubinski R (Ed). Dementia and Communication. San Diego: Singular Publishing; 1995: 84-97.
¹²
Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res 1983;17:37-49.
¹³
Folstein MF, Folstein SE, MC Hugh, PR. Mini-mental State Examination. In: Burns A, Lawlor BE, Craig S (Eds). Assessment scales in old age psychiatry. Londres: Martin Dunitz; 1999:34-35.
¹⁴
Brucki SM, Nitrini R, Caramelli P, Bertolucci PH, Okamoto I. Sugestões para o uso do Mini-Exame do Estado Mental no Brasil. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2003;61:777-781.
¹⁵
Jorm AF. A short form validation of the Informant Questionnaire Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): development and crossvalidation. Psychol Med 1994;24:145-53. Erratum in: Psychol Med 1995;25:437.
¹⁶
Lopes MA, Hototian SR, Bustamante SEZ, Azevedo D, Tatsch M, Bazzarella MC, Litvoc J, Bottino CMC. Prevalence of cognitive and functional impairment in a community sample in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2007;22:770-776.
¹⁷
Kolinsky R. Conséquences cognitives de l'illettrisme. In: Carbonnel S, Gillet PM-D, Martory M-D, Valdois S (Eds). Approche cognitive des troubles de la lecture et de l'écriture chez l'enfant et l'adulte. Marseille: Collection Neuropsychologie. Solal, 1996:291-304.
¹⁸
Wingfield A, Grossman M. Language and the aging brain: patterns of neural compensation revealed by functional brain imaging. J Neurophysiol 2006;95:2830-9.
¹⁹
Hagoort P, van Berkum J. Beyond the sentence given. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2007;362(1481):801-11
²⁰
Tye-Murray N, Sommers M, Spehar B, Myerson J, Hale S, Rose NS. Auditory-visual discourse comprehension by older and young adults in favorable and unfavorable conditions. Int J Audiol. 2008;47(Suppl 2):S31-7.
²¹
McDermott KB, Chan JCK. Effects of repetition on memory for pragmatic inferences. Mem Cognit 2006;34:1273-1284.
²²
Joanette Y. The elderly cognitive profile. Challenge 2001- Revised transcript, May 30, 2002:1-30.
²³
Frieske DA, Park DC. Memory for News in Young and Old Adults. Psychol Aging 1999;14:90-98.
²⁴
Hultsch DF, Dixon RA. Memory for text materials in adulthood. In: Baltes P, Brim OJ Jr (Eds). Life-span development and behavior, vol.6. New York: Academic Press; 1984:77.
²⁵
Mar R. Neuropsychology of narrative: story comprehension, story production and their interrelation. Neuropsychologia 2004;42:1414-34.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Apr-Jun 2009

History

Received
12 May 2009
Accepted
21 May 2009

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

[1] ¹
Zekveld AA, Kramer SE, Kessens JM, Vlaming MS, Houtgast T. The benefit obtained from visually displayed text from an automatic speech recognizer during listening to speech presented in noise. Ear Hear 2008;29:838-852.

[2] ²
Schneider BA, Li L, Daneman M. How competing speech interferes with speech comprehension in everyday listening situations. J Am Acad Audiol 2007;18:559-572.

[3] ³
Thompson L, Garcia E, Malloy D. Reliance on visible speech cues during multimodal language processing: individual and age differences. Exp Aging Res 2007;33:373-97.

[4] ⁴
Pichora-Fuller MK. Cognitive aging and auditory information processing. Int J Audiol 2003;42(Suppl 2):2S26-32.

[5] ⁵
Fernandes MA, Grady C. Age differences in susceptibility to memory interference during recal of categorizable but not unrelated word lists. Exp Aging Res 2008;34:297-322.

[6] ⁶
Golomb JD, Peelle JE, Addis KM, Kahana MJ, Wingfield A. Effects of adult aging on utilization of temporal and semantic associations during free and serial recall. Mem Cognit 2008; 36:947-56.

[7] ⁷
Xu J, Kemeny S, Park G, Frattali C, Braun A. Language in context: emergent features of word, sentence, and narrative comprehension. Neuroimage 2005; 25:1002-1015.

[8] ⁸
Yarkoni T, Speer NK, Zacks JM. Neural substrates of narrative comprehension. Neuroimage 2008;41:1408-1425.

[9] ⁹
Gilchrist AL, Cowan N, Naveh-Benjamin M. Working memory capacity for spoken sentences decreases with adult ageing: recall of fewer but not smaller chunks in older adults. Memory 2008;16:773-87.

[10] ¹⁰
Yasuda K, Nakamura T, Beckman B. Comprehension and Storage of Four Serially Presented Radio News Stories by Mild Aphasic Subjects. Brain Lang 2000;75:399-415.

[11] ¹¹
Ryan EB. Normal Aging and Language. In: Lubinski R (Ed). Dementia and Communication. San Diego: Singular Publishing; 1995: 84-97.

[12] ¹²
Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res 1983;17:37-49.

[13] ¹³
Folstein MF, Folstein SE, MC Hugh, PR. Mini-mental State Examination. In: Burns A, Lawlor BE, Craig S (Eds). Assessment scales in old age psychiatry. Londres: Martin Dunitz; 1999:34-35.

[14] ¹⁴
Brucki SM, Nitrini R, Caramelli P, Bertolucci PH, Okamoto I. Sugestões para o uso do Mini-Exame do Estado Mental no Brasil. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2003;61:777-781.

[15] ¹⁵
Jorm AF. A short form validation of the Informant Questionnaire Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): development and crossvalidation. Psychol Med 1994;24:145-53. Erratum in: Psychol Med 1995;25:437.

[16] ¹⁶
Lopes MA, Hototian SR, Bustamante SEZ, Azevedo D, Tatsch M, Bazzarella MC, Litvoc J, Bottino CMC. Prevalence of cognitive and functional impairment in a community sample in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2007;22:770-776.

[17] ¹⁷
Kolinsky R. Conséquences cognitives de l'illettrisme. In: Carbonnel S, Gillet PM-D, Martory M-D, Valdois S (Eds). Approche cognitive des troubles de la lecture et de l'écriture chez l'enfant et l'adulte. Marseille: Collection Neuropsychologie. Solal, 1996:291-304.

[18] ¹⁸
Wingfield A, Grossman M. Language and the aging brain: patterns of neural compensation revealed by functional brain imaging. J Neurophysiol 2006;95:2830-9.

[19] ¹⁹
Hagoort P, van Berkum J. Beyond the sentence given. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2007;362(1481):801-11

[20] ²⁰
Tye-Murray N, Sommers M, Spehar B, Myerson J, Hale S, Rose NS. Auditory-visual discourse comprehension by older and young adults in favorable and unfavorable conditions. Int J Audiol. 2008;47(Suppl 2):S31-7.

[21] ²¹
McDermott KB, Chan JCK. Effects of repetition on memory for pragmatic inferences. Mem Cognit 2006;34:1273-1284.

[22] ²²
Joanette Y. The elderly cognitive profile. Challenge 2001- Revised transcript, May 30, 2002:1-30.

[23] ²³
Frieske DA, Park DC. Memory for News in Young and Old Adults. Psychol Aging 1999;14:90-98.

[24] ²⁴
Hultsch DF, Dixon RA. Memory for text materials in adulthood. In: Baltes P, Brim OJ Jr (Eds). Life-span development and behavior, vol.6. New York: Academic Press; 1984:77.

[25] ²⁵
Mar R. Neuropsychology of narrative: story comprehension, story production and their interrelation. Neuropsychologia 2004;42:1414-34.

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