Breadth of Categorization and Metaphoric Processing: A Study of Young and Older Adults

Breadth of categorization and metaphoric processing were studied in 30 young and 30 older adults to determine if older adults manifest a more integrative processing style. A categorization task containing 24 stories of everyday situations was developed from responses of subjects to a questionnaire assessing relevant themes. The task was administered along with a metaphor interpretation task. As predicted, older adults generated fewer categories than young adults, but age differences in breadth of categorization emerged only in the most highly educated group, interacting with sex. Highly educated older women showed greater breadth of categorization than their young counterparts as hypothesized, but highly educated older men showed less breadth of categorization than young men. Metaphoric processing, on the other hand, showed neither age nor gender related differences. Possible interpretations for the findings are considered.