Age Differences in Word and Language Processing - Advances in Psychology

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Publisher Marketing: Component cognitive processes have played a critical role in the development of experimental aging research and theory in psychology as attested by articles published on this theme. However, in the last five to ten years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of articles attempting to isolate a single factor (or small subset of factors) responsible for age differences in information processing. This view of aging is frequently termed the complexity model of the generalized slowing model, the primary assumption being that age differences in cognition are due simply to a relatively larger performance decrement on the part of older adults (compared to younger adults) as task complexity increases. Because generalized complexity theorists have questioned the utility of using component cognitive processes as theoretical constructs, the editors feel it is time to restate why component cognitive processes are critical to any thorough understanding of age differences in cognition. Thus the present edited volume represents an attempt to demonstrate the utility of the process-specific approach to cognitive aging. Central to this effort are illustrations of how regression analyses may provide evidence for general slowing by maximizing explained variance while at the same time obscuring local sources of variance. The book concentrates on age differences in word and language processing, because these factors relate to reading which is a critical cognitive process used in everyday life. Furthermore, age differences in word and language processing illustrate the importance of taking component cognitive processes into consideration. The breadth of coverage of the book attests to the wide range of cognitive processes involved in word and language processing.

Contributor Bio:  Allen, Lois Angela C. Allen, the editor of "Dark Thirst, " is a twin and a native of Texas. A graduate of Howard University, she is a veteran journalist whose work has appeared in the "New York Post, " the "Washington Post, " the "Indianapolis Star, " the "Sun (London), " and "Honey" magazine. She lives in New York City. Contributor Bio:  Allen, Philip A Philip Allen was born in Bath, Somerset, England in 1953, and graduated in geology from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1974. After two years in the oil industry he studied for a doctorate at Cambridge University supervised by Dr Peter Friend, then moved to a postdoctoral position in the University of Bern, Switzerland where he worked with Professor Albert Matter. He held lectureships in Cardiff University and Oxford University before taking the Chair of Geology and Mineralogy at Trinity College Dublin, followed by professorships at ETH Zurich and Imperial College London. He is the author of three editions of Basin Analysis: Principles and Applications (1990, 2005 and 2013) with his twin brother John, Earth Surface Processes published in 1997, and Earth Dramas: Ancient Mysteries and Modern Controversies published in 2014. He has published over 100 scientific papers in the fields of sedimentology, stratigraphy, basin analysis and Earth surface processes. Philip Allen served as Senior Proctor of Oxford University in 2004. He was given a Royal Society-Wolfson research merit award for 2006-2011 held at Imperial College, and the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2007. He served as Science secretary of the Geological Society 2009-2012.