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Background: Vocabulary scores increase until approximately age 65 years and then remain stable or decrease slightly, unlike scores on tests of other cognitive abilities that decline significantly with age. Aims: To review the findings on ageing‐related changes in vocabulary, and to discuss four methodological issues: research design; test type; measurement; and vocabulary ability as a proxy for general intelligence. Main Contribution: A discussion of cross‐sectional and longitudinal research designs shows that cohort membership accounts for some but not all ageing‐related changes in vocabulary, and that drop‐out and test–retest effects do not alter conclusions regarding these changes. Test type affects age trends in vocabulary, and if researchers use only one test, they should choose a multiple‐choice synonym test. While some authors suggest that vocabulary tests do not measure the same underlying ability in younger and older adults, more research of this suggestion is needed. A brief examination of the use of vocabulary ability as a proxy for general intelligence in healthy ageing and for premorbid abilities in dementia indicates that such practice is often questionable. Conclusions: Vocabulary knowledge increases through the mid‐60s regardless of measurement method. However, there is little information on how word knowledge serves other verbal skills in old age, how and when adults learn new words, or how much exposure is necessary for meanings to remain in storage for a lifetime. Research of these issues may require new methodologies, as well as novel theoretical accounts of ageing‐related effects on vocabulary. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Unlike many cognitive abilities that decline with ageing, vocabulary knowledge continues to increase until approximately age 65, and then remains stable or decreases slightly. These findings have been replicated in different research designs and across languages. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: The article presents a summary of findings on changes in vocabulary across adulthood, and a discussion of four key methodological issues: research design, test type, measurement, and the use of vocabulary ability as a proxy for general intelligence. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: To better understand changes in vocabulary knowledge across adulthood, clinicians must be aware of methodological considerations that affect the field. Such considerations have direct clinical implications regarding the choice of vocabulary tests and their use as a proxy for other abilities in both healthy older adults and in individuals with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Older adults are a peak incidence group for traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, empirical evidence on TBI in older adults is often limited to extrapolated findings from studies involving younger adults. While cognitive‐communication deficits are an established consequence of TBI with substantial impact on social outcome for younger adults, little is known about the nature of cognitive‐communication changes experienced by older adults following a new‐onset TBI. In order to inform evidence‐based service delivery and support older adults who sustain TBI, it is important to understand how these difficulties manifest in older adults. Aims: To review the empirical literature to determine the nature and breadth of research that has addressed the influence of older age on cognitive‐communication outcomes following TBI sustained in older adulthood. Methods & Procedures: A scoping review framework was used. Five electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL and Scopus) were searched to locate peer‐reviewed studies addressing cognitive‐communication following TBI sustained at ≥ 55 years. Given the absence of dedicated investigations within the search yield, studies were included where at least 30% of participants were aged ≥ 55 years at injury, and age was a stated focus of the investigation. Outcomes & Results: A total of 2468 unique records were identified and reduced to 225 after title and abstract screening. Full‐text review revealed only three studies that met the criteria. Collectively these studies included adults aged 55–93 years at injury. Two studies focused on age as a predictor for acute cognitive‐communication difficulty, and one on the impact of age on facial emotion recognition in the chronic stages of injury. None of the studies had a dedicated focus on cognitive‐communication outcomes for older adults who sustained a TBI within the defined period of older adulthood. Conclusions & Implications: This scoping review produced limited results and insufficient evidence to inform rehabilitation for older adults. Indeed, very little is known about cognitive‐communication outcomes for older adults who sustain a TBI. This review highlights the need, in the context of an ageing population, for research within this area to be prioritized. What this paper addsWhat is already known on the subjectEmpirical evidence to support the management of post‐TBI cognitive‐communication difficulties in adults predominantly stems from studies with young adults. However, the broader TBI literature suggests that outcome for older adults requires specific consideration due to its distinct nature and occurrence during a stage of life when there is the potential for subtle change to the processes of cognition and communication as part of typical ageing.What this paper adds to existing knowledgeThis scoping review identifies that research related to cognitive‐communication outcomes for older adults who have sustained a TBI is very much in its infancy. Overarching statements about post‐TBI cognitive‐communication outcomes for older adults cannot be drawn, nor can it be determined if outcomes for older adults differ from younger adults.What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?The lack of research in this area means that tangible guidance cannot be provided to clinicians working with older adults following TBI to support evidence‐based practice for cognitive‐communication. This scoping review strongly supports the need for further research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Behavioural and neuropsychological studies on elderly populations concentrate on many aspects of cognitive functioning, but significantly less research concerns communication processes, including aspects of verbal communication skills, pragmatic issues that are important for performing social tasks at every age. Aims: To characterize the variability in changes that occur with age in the domain of pragmatic aspects of verbal communication skills in a group of individuals aged > 65 years and to define their determinants. Methods & Procedures: A group of 109 normally ageing individuals (aged 64.9–90 years) participated in the study (62 women and 47 men). Participants were divided into two age groups: < 70 and > 71 years old. The verbal communication skills were examined using the Polish version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB‐PL), and cognitive skills using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Outcomes & Results: Comparison between the subgroups showed that there was a significant decline in the older group in all the subtests except for the Discourse Analysis. Age did not differentiate discursive abilities in seniors. These data apparently confirm the hypothesis that discursive competences are stable throughout one's lifespan. In order to compare younger and older seniors in terms of the 11 aspects of pragmatic communication, two performance profiles were prepared for the groups and subjected to comparative analyses. The shape of the two profiles of all communication competences was similar. The biggest differences were identified between the groups in the Comments, Humour and Metaphor comprehension and explanation subtests. Analysis of the determinants of changes in pragmatic aspects of verbal communication skills in elderly individuals revealed that the important factors include age, overall level of cognitive function, higher education and female sex. Conclusion & Implications: The relationship between age and pragmatic aspects of verbal communication skills is complex. The results indicate that treating seniors as a homogenous group in terms of pragmatic aspects of verbal communication functioning is incorrect. Age differentially affects the various aspects of communication functions. The level of cognitive functioning mediates the relationship between age and pragmatic aspects of verbal communication skills. What this paper addsWhat is already known on the subject?Behavioural and neuropsychological studies on elderly populations concentrate on many aspects of mnestic functions, executive functions, cognitive flexibility, fluency, cognitive control, working memory, semantic processing, arithmetic competences and perception speed. Significantly less research concerns communication processes, including verbal communication. Older and younger people have usually been compared in particular areas of communication: discourse, understanding of metaphors or prosody. At present there is a paucity of research regarding changes in communication functions at different stages of ageing and profiles of various aspects of verbal communication in old age.What this paper adds to existing knowledgeThe study indicates that normally ageing individuals are a non‐homogeneous group in terms of pragmatic aspects of verbal communication. Various communication functions change at different rate at various stages of ageing. The study clarified the determinants of changes in pragmatic aspects of verbal communication skills in elderly individuals. These aspects are cognitive abilities, age, a high education level and sex.What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?The research shows that diagnosis of communication competencies in elderly individuals is necessary. Furthermore, the kind of abilities is very important for social relationships and quality of life. It is essential to inform a senior's family about communication changes that occur in normal ageing. Understanding potential verbal communication difficulties in seniors and their determinants are fundamental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Oral-diadochokinesis (oral-DDK) tasks are extensively used in the evaluation of motor speech abilities. Currently, validated normative data for older adults (aged 65 years and older) are missing in Hebrew. The effect of task stimuli (non-word versus real-word repetition) is also non-clear in the population of older adult Hebrew speakers. Aims (1) To establish a norm for oral-DDK rate for older adult (aged 65 years and older) Hebrew speakers, and to investigate the possible effect of age and gender on performance rate; and (2) to examine the effects of stimuli (non-word versus real word) on oral-DDK rates. Methods & Procedures In experiment 1, 88 healthy older Hebrew speakers (60-95 years, 48 females and 40 males) were audio-recorded while performing an oral-DDK task (repetition of /pataka/), and repetition rates (syllables/s) were coded. In experiment 2, the effect of real-word repetition was evaluated. Sixty-eight older Hebrew speakers (aged 66-95 years, 43 females and 25 males) were asked to repeat ' pataka' (non-word) and ' bodeket' (Hebrew real word). Outcomes & Results Experiment 1: Oral-DDK performance for older adult Hebrew speakers was 5.07 syllables/s (SD = 1.16 syllables/s), across age groups and gender. Comparison of this data with Hebrew norms for younger adults (and equivalent data in English) shows the following gradient of oral-DDK rates: ages 15-45 > 65-74 > 75-86 years. Gender was not a significant factor in our data. Experiment 2: Repetition of real words was faster than that of non-words, by 13.5%. Conclusions & Implications The paper provides normative values for oral-DDK rates for older Hebrew speakers. The data show the large impact of ageing on oro-motor functions. The analysis further indicates that speech and language pathologists should consider separate norms for clients of 65-74 years and those of 75-86 years. Hebrew rates were found to be different from English norms for the oldest group, shedding light on the impact of language on these norms. Finally, the data support using a dual-protocol (real- and non-word repetition) with older adults to improve differential diagnosis of normal and pathological ageing in this task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge of the discourse performance of non‐brain‐damaged individuals is critical not only for its differentiation from disordered expression but also for more accurate models of ageing and communication. The effect of ageing and cognitive skills on the cohesive adequacy of discourse has, until now, presented a confusing and ambiguous picture. Aims: To examine comprehensively the effects of both age and cognitive skills on the discourse cohesion of 32 non‐brain‐damaged males divided into four age groups. Methods & Procedures: A large body of narrative and procedural samples (394 samples) was elicited from the participants. Their cognitive skills were determined using three tests, whilst their discourse cohesion was analyzed and correlated with the cognitive test results. Outcomes & Results: This extensive investigation of ageing effects on discourse cohesion and their relationship to cognitive behaviour did not provide neat generalizable results. It showed that ageing significantly increases the number of cohesive errors and reduces the quantity of referential ties in picture‐sequence narratives. The changes with age were limited to two aspects of cohesion and not linear across age groups. The participants' cognitive skills declined with age. Correlations between some cognitive tests and certain cohesive changes suggest co‐occurring deficits rather than a causal explanation of cohesive decline with age. Conclusions & Implications: With ageing there are increased cohesive errors and decreased referential ties, co‐occurring with declining cognitive skills. This study yields important guidance for future research, suggesting that picture‐sequence narrative is the most effective tool for clinical evaluation of discourse, but also that findings from one discourse sample may be misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Previous research has suggested that speech perception in elderly adults is influenced not only by age‐related hearing loss or presbycusis but also by declines in cognitive abilities, by background noise and by the syntactic complexity of the message. Aims: To gain further insight into the influence of these cognitive as well as acoustic and linguistic factors on speech perception in elderly adults by investigating inhibitory control as a listener characteristic and background noise type and syntactic complexity as input characteristics. Methods & Procedures: Phoneme identification was measured in different noise conditions and in different linguistic contexts (single words, sentences with varying syntactic complexity). Additionally, inhibitory control was measured using a visual stimulus–response matching task. Fifty‐one adults participated in this study, including elderly adults with age‐related hearing loss (n = 9) and with normal hearing (n = 17), and a control group of normal hearing younger adults (n = 25). Outcomes & Results: The analysis revealed that elderly adults with normal hearing and with hearing loss were less likely to identify successfully phonemes in single words than younger normal hearing controls. In the context of sentences, only elderly adults with hearing loss had a lower odds of correct phoneme perception than the control group. Additionally, in elderly adults with hearing loss, phoneme‐in‐sentence perception was linked to age‐related declines in inhibitory control. In all participants, phoneme identification in sentences was influenced by both noise type and syntactic complexity. Conclusions & Implications: Inhibitory control and syntactic complexity might play a significant role in speech perception, especially in elderly listeners. These factors might also influence the results of clinical assessments of speech perception. Testing procedures thus need to be selected and their results interpreted carefully with these influences in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Social perception is an important skill. One assessment that is commonly used to assess social perception abilities is The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT). The only normative data available for this test are for Australian younger adults. Despite no normative data being available for British adults, the test is widely used in the UK with older and younger adults. There is a growing body of research that suggests that older adults have difficulty with skills associated with social perception. There is therefore a need to determine whether British adults, and more specifically British older adults, perform similarly to the Australian normative TASIT scores available in the manual. Aims To explore the differences between older and younger British adults' performance on TASIT, and to determine whether younger and older British adults perform similarly to the data from Australian adults in TASIT manual. Methods & Procedures TASIT was administered to a total of 42 native British English speaking participants. The participants were split into two age groups 18-45 and 60-90 years. Comparisons were made between the two groups and the Australian data in TASIT manual. Outcomes & Results The younger British and Australian adults obtained similar scores on all parts of TASIT. The older British adults though, obtained significantly lower scores than the Australian younger adults on all parts of TASIT and when education was controlled for they obtained significantly lower scores than the British younger adults. Conclusions & Implications The findings are discussed in the light of previous research that has found that older adults are worse than younger adults at social inferences. The findings of the current study suggest that caution should be used when using TASIT with older British adults to assess social perception abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Global coherence is a metric of expressive language performance that represents the speaker's ability to initiate, plan and maintain a topic of discussion. Studies indicate that disruptions of global coherence can occur during the ageing process and following neurological disease or injury. However, little is known about the specific impact that the ageing process, disease or injury has on global coherence during discourse production. Aims: To review the literature on global coherence in adult populations and assess the impact that age, disease or injury has on global coherence during expressive language tasks. Methods & Procedures:We completed an in-depth search of Medline and PyschInfo (1990-2014) to identify studies of global coherence in adult populations. We identified studies that included a comparison group and utilized a measure of global coherence during expressive language production among adults. Outcomes & Results: Twenty studies comprised of 692 study participants who met inclusion criteria were identified for the review of the literature. Studies included participants without neurological impairments and individuals with aphasia, traumatic brain injury, dementia, generalizedmemory impairment and other neurological conditions. Study results indicated global coherence is an expressive language skill that is influenced by the ageing process and neurological disease or injury. Conclusions & Implications: Although evidence indicated that global coherence is negatively influenced by ageing and neurological disease/injury, the heterogeneity of study populations, measurement tools and study designs were limiting factors in determining the exact nature by which these factors impact the skill of global coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]