Sandoz Mélanie, Iglesias Katia, Achim Amélie M, Fossard Marion
Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Institut des Sciences Logopédiques, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel,Switzerland.
School of Health Sciences (HEdS-FR), HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2024 Jan-Mar;31(2):301-322. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2022.2150141. Epub 2023 Jan 5.
The present study focuses on referential choices made by healthy aged adults during narrative discourse, and their relationship with cognitive and socio-cognitive abilities. Previously, some studies have shown that, compared to young adults, older adults produce more pronouns when referring to various entities during discourse, regardless of the accessibility level of the referent for the addressee. This referential behavior has been interpreted in relation to the decrease of cognitive abilities, such as working memory abilities. There is, as of yet, little empirical evidence highlighting which cognitive competences preferentially support referential choices during discourse production. Here, we focus on three categories of referential markers (indefinite, definite markers and pronouns) produced by 78 participants from 60 to 91 years old. We used a storytelling task enabling us to examine the referential choices made at three discourse stages (introduction, maintaining or shift of the referent in focus) and in increasing levels of referential complexity (one vs two characters, and different vs same gender). In addition to specifically assessing how increasing age influences referential choices, we also examine the contribution of various cognitive and socio-cognitive skills that are presumed to play a specific role in referential choices. We found that both age and specific cognitive abilities (planification, inhibition, and verbal episodic memory) had an effect on referential choices, but that these effects depended on when (at which discourse stage) the referential markers were produced. Overall, our study highlights the complex interplay between discursive and cognitive factors in referential choices made by healthy older speakers.
本研究聚焦于健康老年人在叙述性话语中所做的指称选择，以及这些选择与认知和社会认知能力之间的关系。此前，一些研究表明，与年轻人相比，老年人在话语中提及各种实体时会使用更多代词，而不论所指对象对听话者而言的可及性水平如何。这种指称行为被解释为与认知能力的下降有关，比如工作记忆能力。截至目前，几乎没有实证证据表明在话语产出过程中哪些认知能力会优先支持指称选择。在此，我们关注78名年龄在60岁至91岁之间的参与者所使用的三类指称标记（不定指、定指标记和代词）。我们采用了一项讲故事任务，借此能够考察在三个话语阶段（引入、保持或转移焦点所指对象）以及指称复杂度不断增加的情况下（一个角色与两个角色，以及不同性别与相同性别）所做出的指称选择。除了具体评估年龄增长如何影响指称选择外，我们还考察了各种认知和社会认知技能的作用，这些技能被认为在指称选择中发挥着特定作用。我们发现年龄和特定认知能力（计划、抑制和言语情景记忆）都会对指称选择产生影响，但这些影响取决于指称标记是在何时（哪个话语阶段）产生的。总体而言，我们的研究凸显了健康老年说话者在指称选择中话语因素和认知因素之间的复杂相互作用。
