INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Finally, although there has been considerable

debate as to the exact mechanisms involved, some

IN COMPREHENSION SKILLS cognitive abilities decline with normal aging
Throughout this book, we have seen that there are (Woodruff-Pak, 1997). There is experimental
individual differences in reading skills, and the evidence that young people are more effective at
same is true of text processing: people differ in relating ideas in text (Cohen, 1979; Singer, 1994).
their ability to process text effectively. There are a Healthy elderly people are less efficient at
number of ways in which people differ in suppressing irrelevant material than young people.
comprehension abilities, and a number of reasons
for these differences. For example, less skilled
comprehenders draw fewer inferences when
processing text or discourse, and are also less well
able to integrate meaning across utterances.
Working memory plays a role in these difficulties,
but is unlikely to be the sole reason. Note: The above points may be elaborated for
Working or short-term memory is used for the topic INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN
storing currently active ideas, and for the COMPREHENSION SKILLS
shortterm storage of mental computations
(Baddeley, 1990). Differences in working
memory span have a number of consequences for
the ability to understand text (Singer, 1994). For
example, a high span will enable an antecedent to
be kept active in memory for longer, and will
enable more elaborative inferences to be drawn.
We saw earlier that prior knowledge
influences comprehension. Possessing prior
knowledge can be advantageous. In general, the
more you know about a subject, the easier it is to
understand and remember related text. Prior
knowledge provides a framework for
understanding new material, activates appropriate
concepts more easily, and affects the processing
of inferences. It helps us to decide what is
important and relevant in material and what is less
so.
Skilled comprehenders are also better able to
suppress irrelevant and inappropriate material
(Gernsbacher, 1997).
Suppression requires that material becomes
activated before it can be suppressed. Reading
activates a great deal of material, and skilled
comprehenders are better able to suppress that
material that is less relevant to the task at hand. It
reduces interference. Less skilled comprehenders
are less efficient at suppressing the inappropriate
meaning of homonyms