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Age, Attention, And Ots In A Constrained Vs Unconstrained Task, Courtney Leann Jensen
Age, Attention, And Ots In A Constrained Vs Unconstrained Task, Courtney Leann Jensen
Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences
The discourse of older healthy adults is commonly described as lengthy and off-topic and thought to be associated with a general cognitive decline that occurs in healthy aging. This study investigated the overall decline in attention associated with healthy aging and its relationship to instances of off-topic speech (OTS) in a constrained and unconstrained language production task. Ninety cognitively healthy adults participated and comprised three age cohorts (40 – 75+). Participants completed cognitive measures of attention and two discourse tasks that included recounting personal events and describing a procedure. Older adults exhibited poorer scores on measures of selective and shifting …