Comprehension and storage of sequentially presented radio news items by healthy elderly

• Autor(a) principal: Bonini,Milena Vaz
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Mansur,Letícia Lessa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Dementia & Neuropsychologia
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642009000200118
• topic: language; elderly; cognition.

Abstract In the normal aging processes, complaints of memory loss and auditory comprehension are not uncommon, principally in complex and cognitively demanding situations. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate skills of discourse comprehension and retention in a natural situation, by healthy aged in relation to variables such as age, schooling and cognitive screening measurement. Methods: Thirty healthy elderly participated in the study (mean age=73.56 yrs; SD=6.26 and mean schooling=8.6 yrs; SD=4.41). Twelve news items were recorded and presented in three sequences of four news-groups. Participants were instructed to listen to the four news items, and upon completion were questioned about one of them. Results: We found no age or schooling effect on the performance of the subjects. The participants achieved almost full scores on all answers (ceiling effect). Discussion: The heterogeneity of elderly and cognitive compensation in natural situations could explain these results of elderly behavior.