The ageing effects in conceptual processing of Chinese action verbs

Abstract It is still inconclusive whether lexicosemantics is prone to ageing. We examined age-related modulation in Chinese word recognition by crossing three age groups (young adults, middle-aged adults, elderly adults) with three verb types (high-exertion action verbs, low-exertion action verbs, natural-change action verbs) in a semantic categorization task. Mixed-effects models on accuracy (GLMM) and response times (LMM) controlled for lexical covariates. We found clear age-related declines in action verb processing. Critically, the predicted graded pattern did not hold uniformly across ages: in young adults, high-exertion and low-exertion action verbs did not differ and both were faster than natural-change action verbs; with increasing age, the profile reconfigured, yielding the largest slowing for low-exertion verbs, smaller slowing for high-exertion verbs, and the smallest slowing for natural-change verbs. These findings indicate age-related changes in sensorimotor simulation and highlight task demands and embodiment strength as key modulators of ageing trajectories in Chinese word recognition.