Adult age differences in comprehension and memory for computer-displayed and printed text

Younger and older adults’ reading performance for texts presented on‐line and texts presented on a printed page were examined. The younger adults spent less time reading the texts and recalled more information from the texts than did the older adults. Age differences were not affected by the method of presenting texts. On‐line presentation of texts resulted in superior comprehension evaluation and recall for both younger and older adults. Although the participants spent more time reading texts presented on‐line than printed texts, the extra reading time did not account for the superior comprehension evaluation and memory found in the online condition. The present research does not provide any evidence that age‐related deficits in reading performance are attributable to on‐line methods of text presentation, but it does suggest that some on‐line presentation methods result in improved comprehension and memory for adults.

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