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BACKGROUND: During the fourth age (80+ years), cognitive difficulties increase. Although language seems to resist the advancement of age, an older person without pathological developments in cognition may exhibit deficits in lexical access. This study examines the restrictions on lexical access in people aged 80 and older in word recognition and retrieval modalities through four lexical tasks. METHOD: The effect of aging on response time and accuracy was measured using recognition (lexical decision/naming/priming) and retrieval (picture naming) tasks. A fourth age group (>80) and two third age groups (60-69/70-79) were compared according to lexical access modality and type of task employed through linear regression models. RESULTS: People aged 80 and older exhibit a strong lexical access constraint, as they are slower and less accurate in recognizing and retrieving words than both third age groups. These restrictions are more profound for the word retrieval modality, especially in the picture naming task. CONCLUSION: Impaired fluid intelligence and internode transmission deficits during advanced aging could further reduce the ability to recognize and/or retrieve words, having an impact on access speed and accuracy. Furthermore, the idea that crystallized intelligence could strengthen the accuracy of lexical access during aging is supported, specifically in word recognition modality.

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During the fourth age, a marked physiological deterioration and critical points of dysfunction are observed, during which cognitive performance exhibits a marked decline in certain skills (fluid intelligence) but good performance of others (crystallized intelligence). Experimental evidence describes important constraints on word production during old age, accompanied by a relative stabilization of speech comprehension. However, cognitive changes associated with advanced aging could also affect comprehension, particularly word recognition. The present study examines how the visual recognition of words is affected during the fourth age when tasks involving different cognitive loads are applied. Through linear regression models, performance was compared between two third-age groups and a fourth-age group on reaction time (RT) and accuracy in naming, priming and lexical decision experiments. The fourth-age group showed a significant RT increase in all experiments. In contrast, accuracy was good when the task involved a low cognitive demand (Experiments 1 and 2); however, when a decisional cognitive factor was included (Experiment 3), the fourth-age group performed significantly worse than the younger third-age group. We argue that the behavior observed among fourth-age individuals is consistent with an unbalanced cognitive configuration, in which the fluid intelligence deficit significantly reduces the speed necessary to recognize words, independent of the cognitive load associated with the test. In contrast, the maintenance in crystallized intelligence improves the accuracy of the process, strengthening linguistic functionality in the advanced stages of old age.

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The association between a word and typical location (e.g., cloud-up) appears to modulate healthy individuals' response times and visual attention. This study examined whether similar effects can be observed in a clinical population characterized by difficulties in both spatial representation and lexical processing. In an eye-tracking experiment, participants categorized spoken words as either up-associated or down-associated. Parkinson's disease patients exhibited a tendency to maintain their visual attention in the upper half of the screen, however, this tendency was significantly lower when participants categorized concepts as down-associated. Instead, the control group showed no preference for either the upper or lower half of the screen. We argue that Parkinson's disease patients present an over-reliance on space during word categorization as a form of cognitive compensation. Such compensation reveals that this clinical population may use spatial anchoring when categorizing words with a spatial association, even in the absence of explicit spatial cues.

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En este artículo se estudia el problema de la lecturabilidad -la dificultad intrínseca de los textos para ser comprendidos- desde una perspectiva psicolingüística. El objetivo de este estudio fue establecer en qué medida la lecturabilidad de un texto depende no solo de sus propiedades estructurales (complejidad lingüística), sino también de las habilidades del lector y de la naturaleza de las tareas de comprensión. Se realizó una investigación de tipo cuasiexperimental en la que se construyeron dos pruebas de comprensión de lectura, manipulando la complejidad de los textos. Las pruebas incluyeron ítems para medir diversos aspectos de la comprensión según un modelo de evaluación basado en un enfoque teórico psicolingüístico. Las pruebas fueron aplicadas a 208 escolares de tres tipos de establecimientos educativos distintos. Los resultados de los análisis estadísticos de los datos permiten confirmar la hipótesis de que la lecturabilidad de los textos no depende solo de las propiedades textuales, sino de la relación de estas con las características de los lectores y las tareas de comprensión definidas en las pruebas.

In this paper, the problem of readability is studied from a psycholinguistic perspective. Readability is the intrinsic difficulty of texts to be understood. The aim of this study was to determine to what extent the readability of a text depends not only on its structural properties (linguistic complexity), but also the skills of the reader and the nature of comprehension tasks. An experimental research was carried out, in which two reading comprehension tests were developed by manipulating the complexity of texts. The tests included items to measure various aspects of comprehension according to an evaluation model based on a theoretical psycholinguistic approach. The tests were applied to 208 participants in three different types of schools. The results confirmed the hypothesis that the readability of texts depends not only on the textual properties, but also on the relationship of these with the readers' characteristics and the comprehension tasks defined in the tests.

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El estudio presenta los datos de confiabilidad, validez convergente, de contenido y validez factorial del multifactorial memory questionnaire [MMQ] en una muestra de 740 participantes correspondientes a población chilena normal, sin problemas de salud, en rangos de edad de 20 a 81 años. El MMQ posee 56 ítems tipo likert, correspondientes a tres dimensiones referidas a confianza en la memoria, capacidad y estrategias o ayudas usadas diariamente para recordar información. A partir del análisis realizado es posible afirmar que el instrumento presenta validez de contenido, validez factorial y confiabilidad de consistencia interna, similar a la reportada en su versión original. Se presenta además, la relación existente con sexo, edad, satisfacción vital y salud subjetiva. El MMQ es un instrumento adecuado para ser usado tanto en contextos clínicos como de investigación para evaluar metamemoria.

The current study presents data on the reliability, convergent, content and factorial validity of the multifactorial memory questionnaire [MMQ] in a Chilean sample of 740 normal and healthy participants aged 20 to 81 years. The MMQ is a 56-item likert scale questionnaire divided into three dimensions: memory contentment, ability, and everyday strategies or aids used to remember information. The analysis indicates that the instrument has content validity, factorial validity and internal reliability, similar to the data reported on the original study of the instrument. Data of the relationship with sex, age, life satisfaction and subjective health are also presented. The MMQ is a useful scale to evaluate metamemory in clinical and research settings.

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Este artículo consiste en una revisión bibliográfica cuyo propósito es dar cuenta del estado del arte en psicolingüística del envejecimiento. Dos hipótesis sobresalen, a saber, una que concibe el proceso del envejecimiento de las capacidades lingüísticas y cognitivas como involución, y otra según la cual la ontogénesis del desarrollo humano se encuentra en un permanente proceso de transformación. El foco de los estudios revisados se sitúan en el procesamiento del lenguaje, explicando los cambios que experimenta la competencia lingüística fundamentalmente como el resultado de las modificaciones de la memoria operativa.

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