ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF PREFRONTAL CORTEX IN DETERMINING AGE DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE PROCESSING: GRAMMATICAL NUMBER AGREEMENT BETWEEN SUBJECT AND VERB
Abstract:
According to the frontal lobe theory of aging, this process is associated with a series of microand
macro-structural changes at the level of the prefrontal cortex. These changes are correlated with a
decline of the capacity of working memory. Until now there are no clear evidence that sustains the
involvment of a unitary or distributed working memory capacity in explaining age differences in
syntactic processing. The participants included in the study N=134 are Young (n=72, m=22.06,
sd=3.17) and Old (n=62, m=65.95, as=5.94). The measured variable of the study, time of processing
was statistically analyzed using an ANOVA 2x2x4 model, with one between subject independent variable
Working memory capacity (high or low) and two within the subject variables, the Type of phrase
(number agreement or disagreement) and the Region of processing (subject, verb, the word ofter the
verb or the last word). The obtained result does not conform the prediction of a unitary working memory
capacity of syntactic processing, sustaining the alternative, specific resources model of the working
memory.
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