READING BEHAVIOR AND PROSE RECALL PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG AND OLDER ADULTS WITH HIGH AND AVERAGE VERBAL ABILITY

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated an interaction between verbal ability and age on performance on prose recall tasks. Older adults of high verbal ability show little or no deficits when compared to young subjects of similar ability, while older adults of average verbal ability recall significantly less than young adults of comparable ability (Meyer & Rice, 1983). Findings presented in this paper show that certain reading behaviors are related to success on prose learning tasks for both young and old adults, and that older adults of average verbal ability have the lowest incidence of these behaviors. Responses to questionnaires and interviews from 50 high verbal ability older adults (over 65) were first compared to those of 50 average verbal ability older adults to determine where differences in reading behavior occur between these ability groups. The older adults were then compared to young adults (18‐32) of varying verbal ability to determine if the reading behaviors identified as facilitating prose recall for older adults operate across age groups. High scorers on prose recall tasks, whether young or old, were readers highly practiced at reading, who took an analytical approach to the reading of text, and who were sensitive to the organizational properties of text.