SENSITIVITY TO SYNTACTIC VIOLATIONS ACROSS THE AGE-SPAN - EVIDENCE FROM A WORD-MONITORING TASK

On-line syntactic processing abilities of three groups of adults (60-69 years, 70-79 years, 80-89 years) were assessed via a word-monitoring paradigm. Sensitivity to ungrammaticality in stimuli including both local (within-clause) and long-distance (across-clause) dependencies was examined through error analyses and reaction time measures. Results revealed a significant increase in error rate in the oldest subject group and less consistent (i.e. greater inter-subject variability), yet significant evidence of sensitivity to violations of long-distance dependency constructions in that group. These results are discussed in relation to theories of the nature and underlying bases of a decline in syntactic capacity with advancing age. © 1991 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.