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L Tabor

Publications and source records attributed to L Tabor.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Effects of text genre and verbal ability on adult age differences in sensitivity to text structure.

The present study examined the effects of verbal ability and text genre on adult age differences in sensitivity to the semantic structure of prose. Young and older adults of low or high verbal ability heard narrative and expository passages at different presentation rates. The results demonstrated that older adults recalled less than younger adults and that age differences in recall were larger for low-verbal adults and expository texts. However, subjects from all groups favored the main ideas in their recalls for both types of passages. The results indicated that adult age similarities in the ability to focus on the main ideas when processing prose was not compromised by the verbal ability of the subjects or the organization of the passages used. However, the results also demonstrate how the characteristics of the learner and the characteristics of the text modulate the size of the age differences observed.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Flexibility and memory: are the elderly really less flexible?

All subjects were given two types of semantic encoding tasks; one encoding task directed attention to an item's thematic role (e.g., igloo was presented in the context of other items from the "North Pole" theme) and the other encoding task directed attention to the same item's role in some taxonomy (e.g., igloo was presented with other items from the dwelling taxonomy). Subjects were tested for free recall of the items followed by cued recall, the cues being theme and taxonomy labels. Young adults and middle-aged adults were more flexible retrieving items than older adults. They often switched modes during retrieval, recalling a few members from a theme and using the terminal item as a "pivot" to recall a few items from the taxonomy to which it also belonged. Flexibility was correlated with recall at each age; however, aging was associated with a less flexible style of retrieval.

Adult↗