Language Comprehension, Chinese Reading, and the Aging Brain

Abstract

Age-related changes in cognitive and language functions have been extensively studied in the last 50 years. Older adults represent a unique population for the study of language because of the many challenges associated with studying this population, including individual differences in life experiences, neurocognitive functions, and social factors. Cross-sectional functional neuroimaging studies have shown that older and younger adults engage similar language-associated brain regions, suggesting that the general architecture of the language network is preserved across the lifespan. However, electrophysiological research has shown that the N400 response involved in semantic processing is reduced and delayed with aging. To date, few studies have examined the aging-related trajectories of Chinese reading and language comprehension. In contrast with English words, most Chinese words are composed of two syllables, which can be mapped onto one or more morphemes with clear boundaries. This chapter briefly reviews the behavioral and neuroimaging research on Chinese word processing throughout the adult lifespan. It explores orthographic, phonological, sublexical, and lexicosemantic processes, considering neural mechanisms and neuropsychological, psycholinguistic, and cognitive reserve factors. This review advances our understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying language comprehension and Chinese word reading in the aging brain.