AGE DIFFERENCES IN CALIBRATION OF COMPREHENSION

Abstract

Young adults have been shown to predict their reading comprehension (calibration of comprehension [CC]) based on subjective assessments of both their ease in processing text and their levels of comprehension. Predictions based on a processing ease heuristic are likely cognitively simpler than those based on assessing comprehension directly. Thus, we hypothesized that older adults base test predictions more on the simpler task of evaluating processing ease and tested whether this preference was related to their diminished working memory capacity. Young and older adults read texts, predicted performance, and evaluated their processing ease and comprehension level. Although both groups showed similar CC, older adults’ CC was significantly related to evaluating processing ease, whereas young adults’ CC was related to evaluating comprehension. This difference was not associated with working memory capacity, suggesting that older adults'reliance on evaluating processing ease was not due to cognitive difficulties in judging comprehension directly.

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