Results

While several cognitive abilities decline with age, particularly those dependent on cognitive control (Hasher & Zacks, 1979), language comprehension is remarkably preserved (Tyler et al., 2010). Successful language comprehension requires the integration of the syntactic and semantic properties of each word into the online development of a sentential representation. This representation places constraints on, or predicts, the incoming speech input. Taken together, these findings suggest that syntactic and semantic prediction are relatively automatic processes, honed through years of experience and requiring little top-down control. The present study aimed to test this hypothesis, asking 1) whether age differentially affects the prediction of syntactic structure and semantic meaning and 2) whether these abilities relate to individual differences in cognitive control (as measured by fluid intelligence). Further, in order to probe how these abilities are preserved in the context of structural loss, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to determine how syntactic and semantic prediction relate to grey matter integrity across the lifespan. Preserved language comprehension with age and its relationship to cognitive contro