Patterns of resource allocation are reliable among younger and older readers

Younger and older adults read short expository passages across 2 times of m easurement for subsequent comprehension or recall. Regression analysis was used to decompose word-by-word reading times into resources allocated to wo rd- and textbase-level processes. Readers were more sensitive to these dema nds when reading for recall than when reading for comprehension. Patterns o f resource allocation showed good test-retest reliabilities and were predic tive of memory performance. Within age group, resource allocation parameter s were not systematically correlated with other individual-difference measu res, suggesting that strategies of on-line resource allocation may be a uni que source of individual differences in determining comprehension of and me mory for text. Age differences in allocation patterns appeared to reflect g eneral slowing among the older adults. Because older adults showed equivale nt memory performance to that of younger readers, the reading time data may represent the on-line resource allocation needed for comparable outcomes a mong older and younger readers.