Age-Related Differences in the Effects of Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Masking on Semantic Processing: Evidence From the N400 Component in Young and Middle-Aged Listeners

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if there are age-related differences in semantic processing with linguistic and nonlinguistic masking, as measured by the N400. Method: Sixteen young (19–31 years) and 16 middle-aged (41–57 years) adults with relatively normal hearing sensitivity were asked to determine whether word pairs were semantically related or unrelated in three listening conditions: quiet, forward, and reverse two-talker speech competition at 0 dB SNR. Behavioral data (accuracies and reaction times) and auditory event-related potential data (N400 amplitudes and latencies) were analyzed using separate mixed design multivariate analysis of variances. Results: Mean N400 amplitudes for semantically related word pairs were similar between young and middle-aged adults. Although neither group showed N400 amplitude differences between masker types, N400 amplitude was significantly greater in the presence of linguistic and nonlinguistic masking than in quiet. In contrast, mean N400 amplitudes for semantically unrelated words were significantly more negative for young adults and not significantly different among listening conditions. Conclusions: Our findings illustrated age-related differences during a semantic processing task, as indexed by the N400, that may not be evident in suprathreshold speech repetition/recognition tasks or behavioral data. Additionally, N400 amplitudes indicated that linguistic masking effects were equivalent to nonlinguistic masking effects on semantic processing.