Characteristics of Story Grammar According to Type of Task Presentation in Healthy Elderly Adults

Purpose: Aging and task presentation type influence language performance in elderly adults. This study aimed to examine how story grammar performance varies by age group and task presentation type.Methods: Participants included 72 cognitively healthy elderly adults (aged 60~89) and 24 younger adults (aged 20~39). Three task presentation types were used: single presentation, repeated presentation, and picture-assisted presentation. Participants listened to and retold three stories under each condition. Narratives were scored using a rubric based on established story grammar models.Results: First, total story grammar scores differed significantly by task presentation type, with the highest scores observed in the repeated presentation condition, followed by the pictureassisted and single presentation conditions. Additionally, total scores tended to decrease with increasing age. Second, for story grammar subcategory scores, significant main effects were found for both age group and task presentation type, while a significant interaction effect was observed only in the "attempt" category. Third, the number of complete episodes also showed significant main effects for both age group and task presentation type, with no significant interaction effect.Conclusion: The findings suggest that story grammar performance varies depending on both age and task presentation type. These results highlight the importance of considering task design when assessing narrative abilities across different age groups.