Production of Narratives: Picture Sequence Facilitates Organizational but Not Conceptual Processing in Less Educated Subjects

Fifty-three healthy older adults were produced stories induced by two types of picture stimuli (single picture and picture sequence). Discourse samples were analyzed for: (1) percentage of expected main ideas (which reflect conceptual processing) and (2) number of transitional markers (which reflect organizational processing). Results indicate that the older group (75 to 84 years) produced a lower percentage of main ideas and less transitional markers than the younger group (65 to 74 years). Both groups also showed better performance in response to the picture sequence than to the single picture. For the percentage of expected main ideas, however, a superior performance in response to the picture sequence was observed only among older subjects with higher (11 to 18 years) but not lower (4 to 10 years) levels of formal education. The role of education and the importance of stimulus type in discourse-specific tasks are discussed.