Differences in the processing of spatial prepositions between younger and older adults: An MEG study:(planned study)

Spatial prepositions are closed-class linguistic items that encode spatial relations or locations of objects. Behavioral studies have shown that both the naming and comprehension of spatial relations are negatively affected by aging. This deterioration in spatial relation processing has been associated more with a decline in visuospatial abilities than with a decline in non-spatial verbal performance. As visuospatial processing has been linked to parietal areas in the brain, we expect to observe differences in parietal cortex activity between younger adults and older adults, during spatial language processing around 400 ms, as measured by MEG. This study aims to inform our understanding of the neural underpinnings of processing spatial prepositions across different age groups as well as any related cognitive decline in typical aging. Method and materials: Two participant groups will be recruited, all meeting the general inclusion criteria of being right-handed, having Danish as their first language, and having no neurological or psychiatric conditions. The first group will consist of 30 younger adults (aged 1830), while the second group will include 30 older adults (aged 50+), matching in years of education and sex. All participants will complete an initial background questionnaire and a behavioral battery. They will then perform the Spatial Preposition Verification Task (SPVT) during MEG recording. In this task, participants judge (true/false) whether a picture featuring two objects accurately depicts the spatial relation described by a previously presented preposition. The SPVT includes two types of spatial prepositions, with a control condition consisting of an object recognition task using the same visual stimuli. Finally, participants will undergo a T1-weighted MRI scan. For data analysis, we will use beamforming for source reconstruction. Classification tests will then be implemented per time point across conditions and groups.