Age differences in sentence production

This is an electronic version of an article published in J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci (2003) 58 (5): P260-P268. doi: 10.1093/geronb/58.5.P260Two experiments have been completed using experimental techniques to study language production under controlled conditions. In Experiment 1, young and older adults were given two, three, or four words and asked to compose a sentence. Older adults' responses were similar to those of young adults when given two or three words. When given four words, the older adults made more errors and their responses were shorter and less elaborate than those of the young adults. In Experiment 2, simple intransitive verbs (smiled), transitive verbs (replaced), and complement-taking verbs (expected) were contrasted. The responses of older adults were similar to those of young adults given intransitive and transitive verbs. Given complement-taking verbs, young adults produced complex sentences, whereas the older adults produced simpler, less complex sentences; the older adults also made many errors. Both experiments found that older adults respond more slowly than young adults

The Costs of Doing Two Things at Once for Young and Older Adults: Talking while Walking, Finger Tapping, and Ignoring Speech or Noise

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of recordYoung and older adults provided language samples in response to questions while walking, finger tapping, and ignoring speech or noise. The language samples were scored on 3 dimensions: fluency, complexity, and content. The hypothesis that working memory limitations affect speech production by older adults was tested by comparing baseline samples with those produced while the participants were performing the concurrent tasks. There were baseline differences: Older adults' speech was less fluent and less complex than young adults' speech. Young adults adopted a different strategy in response to the dual-task demands than older adults: They reduced sentence length and grammatical complexity. In contrast, older adults shifted to a reduced speech rate in the dual-task conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

Single crystal growth of BaFe2−x_{2-x}Cox_xAs2_2 without fluxing agent

We report a simple, reliable method to grow high quality BaFe$_{2-x}$Co$_x$As$_2$ single crystal samples without using any fluxing agent. The starting materials for the single crystal growth come from well-crystallized polycrystalline samples and the highest growing temperature can be 1493 K. The as-grown crystals have typical dimensions of 4$\times3\times$0.5 mm$^3$ with c-axis perpendicular to the shining surface. We find that the samples have very large current carrying ability, indicating that the samples have good potential technological applications.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetis

Sentence production by younger and older adults in controlled contexts

This is an electronic version of an article published in J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci (2004) 59 (5): P220-P224. doi: 10.1093/geronb/59.5.P220In this experiment we compared young and older adults' abilities to produce complex sentences under controlled conditions. We asked participants to memorize sentence stems differing in syntactical complexity and then to produce a complete sentence using the stem. The length, complexity, and content of young adults' responses varied with the syntactical complexity of the stems, whereas older adults' responses did not. These results suggest that working memory processing limitations impose a “ceiling” on older adults' production of complex sentences, limiting their length, complexity, and content

Cognitive Interventions for Older Adults: Does Approach Matter?

Assisted living (AL) is the fastest growing option for residential care that is designed to provide older adults with needed supports while promoting independence1. Nevertheless, AL residents typically experience progressive decline in cognitive ability and self-care that necessitates more intensive nursing care, and typically, most AL residents will transfer to a nursing home (NH) within one to three years1–4. Older adults require a variety of cognitive abilities to meet every day self-care challenges needed to remain in AL. Cognitive decline is key predictor of disability and NH placement for AL residents 5. Someone in the US is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) every 68 seconds, and the number of dementia sufferers will double by 2050, reaching 16 million6. Therefore, the development of new interventions to decrease cognitive decline is critical. Cognitive training programs are gaining popularity based on the notion that “use it or lose it” applies to cognition7,8. Research demonstrates that training in specific cognitive skills can improve memory, cognitive processing speed, spatial orientation, reasoning, and executive function in community dwelling older adults 7,9. Cognitive training can also benefit persons with dementia and mild cognitive decline. A meta-analysis of cognitive training research involving persons with early-stage AD reported overall effect sizes of 0.47 for interventions targeting learning, memory, and executive function, with improvements in activities of daily living (ADLs), problem solving, depression, and self-rated functioning10. A cognitive training intervention called Reasoning Exercises in Assisted Living (REAL) was developed to teach reasoning and problem solving skills to AL residents who are at risk for cognitive and functional decline. The intervention was modeled after the inductive reasoning skills found to improve cognition and maintain self-care over 5 years in healthy, independent older adults11. The REAL program includes six, hour-long, sessions in which providers work individually with AL residents12. The goal of this intervention is to improve older adults’ everyday problem-solving skills so they can maintain their ability to care for themselves and “age in place” in AL. REAL successfully improved problem solving scores of AL residents in a preliminary study12. Results from a subsequent cluster randomized clinical trial (reported elsewhere) also show potential for this intervention13. REAL is provided to AL residents in a one-to-one format. This approach has been successful. However, having adequate interventionists to provide REAL to individual AL residents is a challenge and is costly. Considering that cost is one predictor of successful dissemination of interventions in real-world settings, more efficient ways to provide REAL to large numbers of AL residents are needed14. Thus, the purpose of this pilot study was to examine feasibility and compare costs and outcomes for REAL provided in individual versus small group formats

Comparing Audio and Video Data for Rating Communication

Video recording has become increasingly popular in nursing research, adding rich nonverbal, contextual, and behavioral information. However, benefits of video over audio data have not been well established. We compared communication ratings of audio versus video data using the Emotional Tone Rating Scale. Twenty raters watched video clips of nursing care and rated staff communication on 12 descriptors that reflect dimensions of person-centered and controlling communication. Another group rated audio-only versions of the same clips. Interrater consistency was high within each group with ICC (2,1) for audio = .91, and video = .94. Interrater consistency for both groups combined was also high with ICC (2,1) for audio and video = .95. Communication ratings using audio and video data were highly correlated. The value of video being superior to audio recorded data should be evaluated in designing studies evaluating nursing care

Reasoning Exercises in Assisted Living: a cluster randomized trial to improve reasoning and everyday problem solving

© 2014 Williams et al. This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be found at: http://www.dovepress.com/permissions.phpPurpose of the study Assisted living (AL) residents are at risk for cognitive and functional declines that eventually reduce their ability to care for themselves, thereby triggering nursing home placement. In developing a method to slow this decline, the efficacy of Reasoning Exercises in Assisted Living (REAL), a cognitive training intervention that teaches everyday reasoning and problem-solving skills to AL residents, was tested. Design and methods At thirteen randomized Midwestern facilities, AL residents whose Mini Mental State Examination scores ranged from 19–29 either were trained in REAL or a vitamin education attention control program or received no treatment at all. For 3 weeks, treated groups received personal training in their respective programs. Results Scores on the Every Day Problems Test for Cognitively Challenged Elders (EPCCE) and on the Direct Assessment of Functional Status (DAFS) showed significant increases only for the REAL group. For EPCCE, change from baseline immediately postintervention was +3.10 (P<0.01), and there was significant retention at the 3-month follow-up (d=2.71; P<0.01). For DAFS, change from baseline immediately postintervention was +3.52 (P<0.001), although retention was not as strong. Neither the attention nor the no-treatment control groups had significant gains immediately postintervention or at follow-up assessments. Post hoc across-group comparison of baseline change also highlights the benefits of REAL training. For EPCCE, the magnitude of gain was significantly larger in the REAL group versus the no-treatment control group immediately postintervention (d=3.82; P<0.01) and at the 3-month follow-up (d=3.80; P<0.01). For DAFS, gain magnitude immediately postintervention for REAL was significantly greater compared with in the attention control group (d=4.73; P<0.01). Implications REAL improves skills in everyday problem solving, which may allow AL residents to maintain self-care and extend AL residency. This benefit is particularly important given the growing population of AL residents at risk for cognitive and self-care decline

Aging and the vulnerability of speech to dual task demands

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.Tracking a digital pursuit rotor task was used to measure dual task costs of language production by young and older adults. Tracking performance by both groups was affected by dual task demands: time on target declined and tracking error increased as dual task demands increased from the baseline condition to a moderately demanding dual task condition to a more demanding dual task condition. When dual task demands were moderate, older adults' speech rate declined but their fluency, grammatical complexity, and content were unaffected. When the dual task was more demanding, older adults' speech, like young adults' speech, became highly fragmented, ungrammatical, and incoherent. Vocabulary, working memory, processing speed, and inhibition affected vulnerability to dual task costs: vocabulary provided some protection for sentence length and grammaticality, working memory conferred some protection for grammatical complexity, and processing speed provided some protection for speech rate, propositional density, coherence, and lexical diversity. Further, vocabulary and working memory capacity provided more protection for older adults than for young adults although the protective effect of processing speed was somewhat reduced for older adults as compared to the young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

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

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