Abstract
ObjectivesSubstantial evidence indicates that older readers of alphabetic languages (e.g., English and German) compensate for age-related reading difficulty by employing a more risky reading strategy in which words are skipped more frequently. The effects of healthy aging on reading behavior for nonalphabetic languages, like Chinese, are largely unknown, although this would reveal the extent to which age-related changes in reading strategy are universal. Accordingly, the present research used measures of eye movements to investigate adult age differences in Chinese reading.MethodThe eye movements of young (18–30 years) and older (60+ years) Chinese readers were recorded.ResultsThe older adults exhibited typical patterns of age-related reading difficulty. But rather than employing a more risky reading strategy compared with the younger readers, the older adults read more carefully by skipping words infrequently, making shorter forward eye movements, and fixating closer to the beginnings of two-character target words in sentences.DiscussionIn contrast with the findings for alphabetic languages, older Chinese readers appear to compensate for age-related reading difficulty by employing a more careful reading strategy. Age-related changes in reading strategy therefore appear to be language specific, rather than universal, and may reflect the specific visual and linguistic requirements of the writing system.
Highlights
IntroductionOlder readers (aged 60+ years) of alphabetic languages typically experience greater reading difficulty than their younger adult counterparts (aged 18–30 years)
Older readers of alphabetic languages typically experience greater reading difficulty than their younger adult counterparts
The older adults read more slowly, made more and longer fixations, more regressions, and fixated target words for longer. These findings add to the growing evidence that older adults experience greater reading difficulty (Kliegl et al, 2004; McGowan et al, 2014, 2015; Paterson et al, 2013b; Rayner et al, 2006, 2009, 2013) and show this age-related difficulty extends to Chinese reading
Summary
Older readers (aged 60+ years) of alphabetic languages typically experience greater reading difficulty than their younger adult counterparts (aged 18–30 years) They tend to read more slowly and make more and longer fixational pauses and more regressions (backward eye movements) than younger adults Compared with younger adult readers, older adult readers tend to skip words more frequently and make generally longer forward eye movements Based on these findings, it is argued that older adults compensate for their poorer processing of text by employing.
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