The Effects of Varying Task Priorities on Language Production by Young and Older Adults

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Issue Date
2011-02Author
Kemper, Susan
Schmalzried, RaLynn Cheri
Herman, Ruth E.
Mohankumar, Deepthi
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
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The present study compared how varying task priorities affected young and older adults' language production. Both young and older adults responded to monetary incentives to vary their performance when simultaneously talking and tracking a pursuit rotor. Tracking performance improved when they were rewarded for tracking and declined when they were rewarded for talking. Both young and older adults also spoke more slowly when rewarded for tracking and more rapidly when rewarded for talking. Young produced less complex sentences when rewarded for tracking and produced more complex sentences when rewarded for talking. However, older adults did not vary their grammatical complexity as a function of monetary incentives. These results are consistent with prior studies suggesting that older adults use a simplified speech register in response to dual-task demands.
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Citation
Kemper, S., Schmalzried, R., Herman, R., Mohankumar, D., (2011). The effects of varying task priorities on language production by young and older adults. Experimental Aging Research, 37, 198-219. PMCID: PM3062914 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2011.554513
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