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In the Prime of Life: ERP Evidence for Syntactic Comprehension Priming in Older Adults
Poster E62 in Poster Session E, Saturday, October 8, 3:15 - 5:00 pm EDT, Millennium Hall
Willem S. van Boxtel1, Laurel A. Lawyer1; 1University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
Background : Syntactic priming is a sensitive tool to examine implicit sensitivity to syntax and syntactic adaptation without taxing declarative memory ability. Priming therefore has great potential to uncover age–related changes in syntactic processing. However, most syntactic priming studies with older adults have focused solely on priming in production, and none have included an electrophysiological component. This study explored the behavioural as well as the neural correlates of syntactic priming in older adults’ comprehension, aiming to examine whether priming — and therefore, sensitivty to implicit syntactic adaptation — remains intact with age. Additionally, we aimed to contribute to the ongoing theoretical discussion surrounding the cognitive underpinnings of syntactic priming. Method : We used a self–paced reading and event-related potential paradigm with groups of older (n = 18, M Age = 69.6, SD Age = 4.01, range = [64,79]) and younger adults (n = 20, M Age = 21.4, SD Age = 2.28, range = [19,27]). Participants read reduced relative (RR) Targets (e.g. “The teenager criticised by the parents threw up a fit”). Targets could be Primed with a preceding RR structure, lexically Boosted by a preceding RR with a matching verb, or Unprimed by a grammatically unrelated structure, while reading times and EEG recordings were obtained. We additionally tested lexis–only overlap using a Lexical Control Condition (LCC) in which verbs from Primes were either repeated or unrepeated in Second Filler items. We expected to find facilitated reading times and attentuated P6 waveforms to the disambiguating “by” in Primed compared to Unprimed, and Boosted compared to Primed trials, as well as attentuated N4s to verbs in Boosted and repeated LCC trials. Results: Older and younger adults showed intact syntactic priming and lexical boost on reading times. However, older adults did not experience facilitation when only verbs were repeated in LCC items. P6 waveforms to “by” in RRs took a wide frontal distribution in older adults but were front–left centered in the younger group. P6 waveforms on “by” were more sensitive to priming conditions in younger compared to older adults. Additionally, a verbal P6 was evident in our data, and both groups showed attenuated verbal P6 waveforms in response to Primed and Boosted trials. No age differences were apparent on verbal P6 or N4 amplitudes in any time window. Conclusions: Our findings of intact behavioural priming in the presence of some by–group ERP differences suggest older adults’ syntax processing remains intact in part due to their recruitment of wider neural resources. Furthermore, while older adults showed intact lexical effects in when syntactic overlap was also present, there were no lexis–only overlap effects. This further aligns with past compensation–focused accounts of language processing in older age. Finally, our discovery of a frontal and verbal P6 suggests syntactic priming in comprehension may depend on different mechanisms compared to production, including recognition of verbs in the lexical boost, making a concrete contribution to literature on the cognitive basis of syntactic priming.
Topic Areas: Development, Syntax