THE INFLUENCE OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION ON THE RESOLUTION OF AMBIGUOUS PRONOUNS BY YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS

Two experiments were conducted with the purpose of investigating possi ble age effects on the abilities of older and younger adults to use co ntextual information to resolve ambiguous pronouns. In both experiment s, subjects were presented with pairs of sentences (a leading sentence followed by a pronominal sentence) and were required to indicate the referent of the ambiguous pronoun. In both experiments, the older adul ts responded more slowly and were less accurate than the younger adult s. However, both groups of subjects were equally influenced by the con textual information available, which was located in the leading senten ce to aid in the resolution of the pronouns. Older adults did not demo nstrate a specific impairment in the ability to use contextual informa tion to resolve ambiguous pronouns. Nevertheless, age-related difficul ties in resolving pronouns may emerge, possibly as a function of an un derspecified discourse model.