Influence of age and schooling in written discourse of healthy adults

Larissa Zanichelli,Karin Zazo Ortiz,Rochele Paz Fonseca

doi:10.1186/s41155-020-00148-7

Larissa Zanichelli, Karin Zazo Ortiz + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-020-00148-7

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Abstract

BackgroundDiscourse production is a very complex cognitive task that requires the integration of several linguistic cognitive skills. Socio-demographic factors such as schooling can impact on cognitive tasks. This study investigated the impact of age and schooling in some macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects in the written discourse of healthy adults.MethodsIndividuals with no previous history of language, hearing, neurological, or psychiatric disorders were asked to write a story based on a figure that showed a “bank robbery.” A total of 463 graphic narrative were analyzed. The schooling was stratified into the following three bands: 5 to 8 years, 9 to 11 years and 12 or more, and the age ranged from 19 to 75 years.ResultsIndividuals with high schooling (12 years or more) produced discourses with more information units, more coherent, and cohesive. The oldest group (60 to 75 years) needed more time to finish the written production.ConclusionThe schooling influences some micro and macrolinguistic aspects in the written discourse production. A higher educational level provided a greater number of words as well as a higher number of information units, and the discourses produced are more coherent and cohesive. The age influenced only the time of discourse production.

Highlights

The impact of socio-demographic factors in cognitive tasks has been discussed due to the wide socio-cultural variety found in several countries, especially countries in development
The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of age and schooling level on some macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects of the written discourse of healthy adults, once it is known that socio-demographic factors can impact in language tasks, in order to check specific aspects of this interference on the written narrative production
The individuals were submitted to screening cognitive tasks: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clock Drawing Test (CDT) (Folstein, Folstein, & Mchugh, 1975; Juby et al, 2002; Critchley, 1953)

Summary

Introduction

The impact of socio-demographic factors in cognitive tasks has been discussed due to the wide socio-cultural variety found in several countries, especially countries in development. It is known that age and schooling directly affect linguistic tasks such as naming by visual confrontation, dictation, oral comprehension of complex sentences, and reading sentences and texts (Soares & Ortiz, 2009; Pagliarin et al, 2014). The discursive production is regarded as a complex task that requires the integration of several linguistic cognitive skills, such as memory, idea selection, organization, planning, and naming (Alexander, 2006; Rogalski et al, 2010; Andreetta, Cantagallo, & Marini, 2012; Wills, Capilouto, & Wright, 2012; Cannizzaro & Coelho, 2013). Discourse production is a very complex cognitive task that requires the integration of several linguistic cognitive skills. Socio-demographic factors such as schooling can impact on cognitive tasks. This study investigated the impact of age and schooling in some macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects in the written discourse of healthy adults

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