Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 52, Issue 6 P254-P264, Copyright © 1997 by The Gerontological Society of America
Language, aging, and inhibitory deficits: evaluation of a theory
DM Burke
Pomona College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. dburke@pomona.edu
This article evaluates the success of Inhibitory Deficit theory in
addressing two basic functions of a theory: explaining available results
and predicting new findings. The review focuses on language comprehension
and production, domains of cognition vulnerable to age- linked inhibitory
deficits under the theory. Considerable research, however, reports
remarkable age constancy in many aspects of language performance, contrary
to the predictions of Inhibitory Deficit theory. For conditions that do
produce age differences in language comprehension and production, evidence
for inhibitory deficits is controversial at best. In predicting new
findings, Inhibitory Deficit theory is constrained by lack of a well
specified model, producing confusion between inhibition that occurs at a
behavioral level versus a theoretical level. Modification of the theory is
required to bring it in line with empirical findings on language and aging,
and greater specification of underlying processes is required to reduce
contradictions in predictions.
