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Abstract
In two experiments, the authors explored whether there are any age differences associated with the ability to process outdated information during news reports comprehension. Younger and older participants (mean age: 70 years old) read passages in which a cause was first said to be responsible for the occurrence of a news event. New elements emerged from the investigation in progress and revealed that the original cause was incorrect. Inference response times indicated that older adults more than younger ones took advantage of an alternative cause mentioned in the text to put the outdated information in the background, whereas younger readers probably kept both causes activated. The research tested the concepts involved with age differences in updating situation model.
Notes
1To be more consistent with the relevant literature on language comprehension in the elderly, we should have used the term inhibition. Instead, we used the term suppression. By this choice, we made a distinction between a temporary elimination of outdated information from working memory (inhibition) versus a complete and definitive elimination of outdated information from working memory.
*p < .05.
2In Collin (Citation2002), participants read each text and were then presented with a question asking them to rate on a 5-point scale (1) the likelihood that a given cause was responsible for the news event described in the text, (2) how difficult the text was to read, and (3) the degree of emotional connotation of the news event.