The memory problem in normal aging has its roots in reduced efficiency in acquiring new information, and it is primarily this limitation that later translates into memory failures. Our approach to this question is focused on rapid speech comprehension and memory for what has been heard. Our starting point came from the demonstration in our laboratory, and others', of age-sensitive reductions in the capacity of working memory and in speed of perceptual processing and rapid organization of high-speed input that would paradoxically seem to predict far more serious decrements in spoken language processing than one actually sees in healthy aging.

We use "time-compressed" speech on a computer to artificially increase speech rates beyond normal levels, while still maintaining the natural flow, timing and pitch contour of the speech. When older adults (audiologically screened for age-normal hearing) are tested, rates of decline in recall for unrelated word-lists can be five-times greater than for a matched group of young adults. We then use computer editing of the speech to add structural coherence, prosodic contour and linguistic constraints to the speech to explore how these features are used by older adults to bring their performance to a level more closely approaching that of the young. In this way we are able to examine the delicate interplay between "top-down" contextual support (at both the acoustic and linguistic levels) as it may be used to supplement the declining sensory, or "bottom-up" analysis of the acoustic signal itself. As part of this research we also explore how age-related central auditory deficits (e.g., temporal resolution, frequency discrimination) interact with these cognitive changes.

Our work also includes questions relating to speech production and its implications for memory retrieval. In one approach to this question, we explore various types of naming deficits following left hemisphere focal brain damage; primarily stroke. For this work the Wingfield lab has an affiliation with the Aphasia Research Center in Boston.

Selected Publications

Golomb, J.D., Peelle, J.E., & Wingfield, A. Effects of stimulus variability and adult aging on adaptation to time-compressed speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. J Acoust Soc Am. 2007 Mar;121(3):1701-8. [abstract]

Howard, M.W., Kahana, M.J., & Wingfield, A. Aging and contextual binding: Modeling recency and lag-recency with the temporal context model. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. Psychon Bull Rev. 2006 Jun; 13(3):439-45. [abstract]

Miller, L.M.S., Cohen, J.A., & Wingfield, A. Contextual knowledge reduces demands on working memory during reading. Memory and Cognition. 2006 Sep;34(6):1355-67. [abstract]

Reilly, J., Troiani, V., Grossman, M., & Wingfield, A. An introduction to hearing loss and screening procedures for behavioral research. Behavior Research Methods. 2007 Aug;39(3):667-72. [abstract]

Wingfield, A., Brownell, H., & Hoyte, K. (2006). Variable solutions to the same problem: Aberrant practice effects in object naming by three aphasic patients. Brain and Language, 97, 351-356. [abstract]

Little, D.M., McGrath, L.M., Prentice, K.J., & Wingfield, A. (2006). Semantic encoding of spoken sentences: Adult aging and the preservation of conceptual short-term memory. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 487-511.

Titone, D.A., Koh, C.K., Kjelgaard, M.M., Bruce, S., Speer, S,R., & Wingfield, A. (2006). Age-related impairments in the revision of syntactic misanalyses: Effects of prosody. Language and Speech, 49, 75-99.

Wingfield, A., McCoy, S.L., Peelle, J.E., Tun, P.A., & Cox, L.C. (2006). Effects of adult aging and hearing loss on comprehension of rapid speech varying in syntacticcomplexity. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 17, 487-497.

Zaromb, F.M., Howard, M.W., Dolan, E.D., Sirotin, Y.B., Tully, M., Wingfield, A., & Kahana, M.J. (2006). Temporal associations and prior-list intrusions in free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 32, 792-804.

Sekuler, R., McLaughlin, C., Kahana, M.J., Wingfield, A., & Yotsumoto, Y. (2006). Short-term visual recognition and temporal order memory are both well-preserved in aging. Psychology and Aging, 21, 632-637.

Wingfield, A., Tun, P.A., McCoy, S.L.., Stewart, R.A., & Cox, L.C. (2006). Sensory and cognitive constraints in comprehension of spoken language in adult aging. Seminars in Hearing, 27, 273-283.

Wingfield, A., & Grossman, M. (2006). Language and the aging brain: Patterns of neural compensation revealed by functional brain imaging. Journal of Neurophysiology, 96, 2830-2839.

Wingfield, A., Speech perception and the comprehension of spoken language: The effects of cognitive and sensory change in adult aging", In D. Park and N. Schwarz (Eds.); Second Edition. Cognitive Aging: A Primer. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Fallon, M., Peelle, J.E. & Wingfield, A. (2006). Spoken sentence processing in young and older adults modulated by task demands: Evidence from self-paced listening. Journal of Genrontology: Psychological Sciences, 61B, P310-P17.

Wingfield, A., Tun, P.A., O'Kane, G., & Peelle, J.E. (2005). Language comprehension in complex environments: Distraction by competing speech in young and older adult listeners. In S.P. Shohov (Ed.), Advances in Psychology Research, Vol. 33 (pp 3-38). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

McCoy, S.L., Tun, P.A., Cox, L.C., Colangelo, M., Stewart, R.A., & Wingfield, A. (2005). Hearing loss and perceptual effort: Downstream effects on older adults' memory for speech. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 22-33.

Kahana, M.J., Dolan, E.D., Sauder, C,L., & Wingfield, A.(2005). Intrusions in episodic recall: Age differences in editing of overt responses. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60B, P92-P97.

Sekuler, R., Kahana, M.J., McLaughlin, C., Golomb, J., & Wingfield, A.(2005). Preservation of episodic visual recognition memory in aging. Experimental Aging Research, 31, 1-13.

McCoy, S.L., Tun, P.A., Cox, L.C., & Wingfield, A.(2005). Aging in a fast- paced world: Rapid speech and its effect on understanding. The ASHA Leader, July 12, pp. 30-31.

Wingfield, A., Tun, P.A., & McCoy, S.L. (2005). Hearing loss in older adulthood: What it is and how it interacts with cognitive performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 144-148.

Peelle, J.E., & Wingfield, A.(2005). Dissociations in perceptual learning revealed by adult age differences in adaptation to time-compressed speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31, 1315-1330.

Little, D.M., Prentice, K.J., Darrow, A.W., & Wingfield, A. (2005). Listening to spoken text: Adult age differences as revealed by self-paced listening. Experimental Aging Research, 31, 313-330.

Lahar, C., Tun, P. A., Wingfield, A. (2004). Sentence-Final Word Completion Norms for Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Adults. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 59B, P7-P10.

Naeser, M.A., Martin, P.I., Baker, E.H., Hodge, S.M, Sczerzenie, S.E., Nicholas, M., Palumbo, C.L., Goodglass, H., Wingfield, A. et al. (2004). Overt propositional speech in chronic nonfluent aphasia studied with the dynamic susceptibility contrast fMRI method. NeuroImage, 22, 29-41.

Little, D.M., Prentice, K.J., & Wingfield, A. (2004). Adult age differences in judgments of semantic fit. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 135-143.

Fallon, M., Kuchinsky, S., & Wingfield, A. (2004). The salience of linguistic clauses in young and older adults' running memory for speech. Experimental Aging Research, 30, 359- 371.

Peelle, J.E., McMillan, C., Moore, P., Grossman, M., & Wingfield, A.(2004). Dissociable patterns of brain activity during comprehension of rapid and syntactically complex speech: Evidence from fMRI. Brain and Language, 91, 315-325.

Wingfield, A., Tun, C.G., Gomez, P.T., & Tun, P.A.. (2003). Preservation of cognitive function after long-term tetraplegia. American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 82, 547-555.

Wingfield, A., Peelle, J.E., & Grossman, M. (2003). Speech rate and syntactic complexity as multiplicative factors in speech comprehension by young and older adults. Journal of Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 10, 310-322.

Kahana, M.J., Howard, M., Zaromb, F., & Wingfield, A. (2002). Age dissociates recency and lag-recency effects in free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 530-540.

Tun, P.A., O'Kane, G., & Wingfield, A. (2002). Distraction by competing speech in young and older adult listeners. Psychology and Aging, 17, 453-467.

Wingfield, A., & Kahana, M.J. (2002). The dynamics of memory retrieval in older adulthood. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56, 187-199.

Wingfield, A., Peelle, J., & Grossman, M. (2002). Speech comprehension in the aging brain: Effects of speech rate and syntactic complexity. Brain and Language, 83, 11-13.

Titone, D., Wingfield, A., Caplan, D., Waters, G., & Prentice, K. (2001). Memory and encoding of spoken discourse following right hemisphere damage: Evidence from the auditory moving window (AMW) technique. Brain and Language, 77, 10-24.

Goodglass, H., Hyde, M.R., Gleason, J.B., Ward, S.E., & Wingfield, A. (2001). Aphasics' access to nouns and verbs: Discourse versus confrontation naming. Brain and Language, 79, 148-150.

Wingfield, A., & Tun, P.A. (2001). Spoken language comprehension in older adults: Interactions between sensory and cognitive change in normal aging. Seminars in Hearing, 22, 287-301.

Wingfield, A., Kemtes, K.A., & Miller, L.S. (2001). Adult aging and listening patterns for spoken prose: Spontaneous segmentation versus self-paced listening. Experimental Aging Research, 27, 229-239.

Wingfield, A. (2001). Language comprehension. In G. Maddox (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Aging (3rd ed., p 582-583.) New York: Springer Publishers.

Wingfield, A. (2000). Speech perception and the comprehension of spoken language in adult aging. D.C. Park & N. Schwarz (Eds.). Cognitive aging: A primer (pp. 175-195). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.

Wingfield, A., & Stine-Morrow, E.A.L.(2000). Language and speech. In Craik, F.I.M., & Salthouse, T.A. Handbook of Aging and Cognition (2nd. Ed.; pp. 359-416). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Tun, P.A., & Wingfield, A. (2000). Slow but sure in an age of "make it quick." Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 2, 31-43.

Wingfield, A., Prentice, K., Koh, C., & Little, D. (2000). Neural change, cognitive reserve and behavioral compensation in rapid encoding and memory for spoken language in adult aging. In L.T. Connor & L.K. Obler (Eds). Neurobehavior of language and cognition: Studies of normal aging and brain damage (pp. 3-21). Boston, MA: Kluwer.

Lindfield, K.C., Goodglass, H., & Wingfield, A. (2000). Dissociating speed from automaticity in the Stroop task: Evidence from a case of progressive posterior cortical atrophy. In L.T.Connor & L.K. Obler (Eds). Neurobehavior of language and cognition: Studies of normal aging and brain damage (pp. 299-313). Boston, MA: Kluwer.

Kahana, M.J., & Wingfield, A. (2000). A functional relation between learning and organization in free recall. Psychonomic Bulletin and  Review, 7, 516-521.

Wingfield, A., Lindfield, K.C., & Goodglass, H.(2000). Effects of age and hearing sensitivity on the use of prosodic information in spoken word recognition. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 915-925.

Titone, D., Prentice, K.J., & Wingfield, A. (2000). Resource allocation during spoken discourse processing: Effects of age and passage difficulty as revealed by self-paced listening. Memory & Cognition, 28, 1029-1040.

 

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Last reviewed: February 16, 2007