O processamento da narrativa no envelhecimento e sua relação com memórias de trabalho e episódica e funções executivas

Authors

  • Lilian Cristine Scherer PUCRS
  • Aline Elisabete Pereira UNISC-RS
  • Onici Claro Flôres UNISC - RS
  • Rosângela Gabriel UNISC- RS
  • Camila Oliveira PUCRS
  • Rochele Paz Fonseca PUCRS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2012n63p129

Abstract

 

 

Em face da importante escassez de estudos sobre processamento do discurso no envelhecimento e do conhecimento ainda restrito quanto à relação dos componentes linguísticos envolvidos na leitura de textos e outros componentes cognitivos, como a memória, o presente estudo teve por objetivo comparar o processamento do texto narrativo entre leitores adultos jovens e leitores adultos idosos. igualmente, visou investigar se há relação entre esta habilidade leitora e sistemas de memória (episódica e de trabalho). houve diferenças significativas entre os grupos em termos de acurácia na resolução das tarefas de leitura apenas em uma questão envolvendo coerência extratextual que inclui conhecimento metafórico e cultural, tarefa na qual os adultos jovens apresentaram melhor desempenho. o tempo de resposta dos idosos foi significativamente mais alto nas tarefas de leitura e em alguns testes neuropsicológicos. além disso, o desempenho dos idosos na comparação com o grupo de adultos jovens foi significativamente mais baixo em alguns itens dos testes que mensuraram a memória de trabalho e episódica.

 

Considering the lack of studies on discourse processing in aging and our still restricted knowledge about the relationship between linguistic components involved in text reading andother cognitive components, such as memory, the present studyaimed to compare narrative processing by young adult readersand elderly readers. Moreover it aimed to investigate whetherthere is a relationship between this reading ability and memorysystems (more specifically episodic and working memory).  interms of accuracy in the resolution of the reading comprehensiontasks, there was a statistically significant difference betweengroups in only one task, which measured extratextual coherenceincluding metaphorical and cultural knowledge, with theyoung group outperforming the elderly one. Significantlyhigher response time was observed in the elderly group whileanswering the comprehension questions and performing someof the neuropsychological tests. also a lower performance inworking and episodic memory was registered in the elderlygroup as compared to the younger adults group.

Author Biographies

Lilian Cristine Scherer, PUCRS

Lilian Cristine Scherer has obtained a Master’s degree in linguistics (language Studies – acquisition) at the Federal University of rio Grande do Sul (UFrGS) and a doctoral degree in  linguistics at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC),  brazil. She has taken part of her doctoral studies and her Post-doctoral studies in Montreal, at the Université de Montréal (Canada), in the area of neuropsycholinguistics, at the Centre de recherche de l´institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CriUGM), investigating language processing in bilingualism and aging. She is a professor in the linguistics department at the Pontifical Catholic University of rio Grande do Sul (PUCrS) and her main research fields are reading and language processing in aging, bilingualism, alzheimer’s diseaseand aphasia.

Aline Elisabete Pereira, UNISC-RS

Aline Elisabete Pereira has obtained a Master’s degree in reading and Cognition and graduation in Letras at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UniSC), rS, brazil. She is a professor in the department of humanities at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UniSC).

Onici Claro Flôres, UNISC - RS

Onici Claro Flôres is a Professor in the Master Program of reading and Cognition at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul, brazil. She has a Master’s degree in Education (Educational Psychology) at the Federal University of rio Grande do Sul (UFrGS) and a doctoral degree in letras at the Pontifical Catholic University of rio Grande do Sul.  at present, she investigates cognition, the intersubjective construction of knowledge  and reading as a cognitive process.

Rosângela Gabriel, UNISC- RS

Rosângela gabriel is a Professor in the Master Program of reading and Cognition at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul - UniSC, rio Grande do Sul, brazil. She has a Ph.d in Letras from the Pontifical Catholic University of rio Grande do Sul, having developed part of her doctorate studies at oxford University, UK, at the Experimental Psychology  department.  her research focuses on language and cognition, with special attention to reading. She is also deeply committed to pursuing the educational implications of reading research.

Camila Oliveira, PUCRS

Camila Rosa de Oliveira has obtained a Master’s degree in Cognitive Psychology at the Pontifical Catholic University of rio Grande do Sul (PUCrS) and graduation in Psychology at the Federal University of rio Grande do Sul (UFrGS).

Rochele Paz Fonseca, PUCRS

Rochele Paz Fonseca has obtained a Master’s degree in developmental Psychology (neuropsycology) and a doctoral degree in Psychology at Federal University of  rio Grande do Sul (UFrGS),  brazil. She has taken part of her doctoral studies and her Post-doctoral studies in Montreal, at the Université de Montréal (Canada), in the area of  neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation associated to neuroimage tecniques, at the Centre de recherche de l´institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CriUGM), investigating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMri) and verbal fluency. She is professor and researcher in The human Cognition department at Pontifical Catholic University of  rio Grande do Sul (PUCrS), Psychology department. her main research fields are development of neuropsychological tasks for assessment and rehabilitation, and neuroimaging with healthy samples regarding education and age roles and with neurological (stroke and brain injury) and/or psychiatric populations (humor disorders and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder).

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Published

2012-12-24

Issue

No. 63 (2012): The Neuroscience of Reading

Section

Articles

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