LOGICAL INFERENCE SKILLS IN ADULT READING COMPREHENSION: EFFECTS OF AGE AND FORMAL EDUCATION

Abstract

This study applied knowledge about inference‐making from the deductive reasoning literature to drawing of specific inferences from prose passages. It explored the effects of age, inference form, prior knowledge, and formal education on inferential comprehension skills in adult readers. Subjects were college‐aged, middle‐aged, and older adults with some college education and older adults with no college education. All subjects read three prose passages, each containing six inferential questions based on premiss expressed in the passages. Premise information was either true, false, or neutral regarding subjects’ prior knowledge. To answer the questions correctly, subjects were required to make six different types of deductive inferences (four with determinate conclusions and two with indeterminate conclusions). Among college‐educated adults, no effects for age were observed, but college‐educated adults in the oldest age group performed significantly better than those without college education. Although performance on this task did not improve beyond young adulthood, neither did it decline with age among college‐educated adults. Regardless of age or education, subjects’ performance was affected by the difficulty of the specific inferences required and by the relation of the material read to subjects’ prior knowledge.