During the last five years, a substantial increase has occurred in the number of studies investigating aging effects in processing prose. As noted by Hartley in Chapter 11, many recent studies have reported age-related differences in quantity and quality of recall, whereas others have found no differences. In attempts to understand these discrepancies, analyses of this literature (Hultsch & Dixon, 1984; Meyer & Rice, 1983a) have been cast in terms of an interactional scheme among text, learner, and task variables (Figure 12.1). Because these variables interact in the comprehension process, it is impossible to discuss them adequately in isolation. However, this chapter emphasizes text variables, whereas Chapter 11 emphasized learner variables. Before examining text variables, we shall discuss learner and task variables, because their consideration is critical in understanding discrepancies in the literature on aging and prose learning.

Learner variables

Education and vocabulary

In considering the learner variables of education and vocabulary as partially responsible for the contradictory aging effects in prose learning, we are considering the long-standing problem in aging research of how to make old and younger age groups equivalent on cultural variables in cross-sectional studies (Birren & Morrison, 1961; Botwinick, 1978; Krauss, 1980). If studies examine only old adults with college degrees, their findings may not hold for the majority of old adults, who lack these degrees. In addition, degrees from various institutions and generations differ in educational value.