Children's comprehension skill and the understanding of nominal metaphors.

According to Levorato and Cacciari's global elaboration model, understanding figurative language is explained by the same processes and background knowledge that are required for literal language. In this study, we investigated the relation between children's comprehension skill and the ability to understand referential nominal metaphors. Two groups of poor versus good comprehenders (8- to 10-year-olds) matched for word reading and vocabulary skills were invited to identify the referent of nouns used metaphorically or literally in short texts. Compared with good comprehenders, performance of poor comprehenders showed a substantial decrease in the metaphoric condition. Moreover, their performance was strongly affected by the degree of semantic incongruence between the terms of the nominal metaphor. These findings are discussed in relation to several factors, in particular the ability to use contextual information and semantic processing.

Harmonisation and Between-Country Differences of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire in Older Adults.

Background: The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) assesses complex mental activity across the life-course and has been associated with brain and cognitive health. The different education systems and occupation classifications across countries represent a challenge for international comparisons. The objectives of this study were four-fold: to adapt and harmonise the LEQ across four European countries, assess its validity across countries, explore its association with brain and cognition and begin to investigate between-country differences in life-course mental activities. Method: The LEQ was administered to 359 cognitively unimpaired older adults (mean age and education: 71.2, 13.2 years) from IMAP and EU-funded Medit-Ageing projects. Education systems, classification of occupations and scoring guidelines were adapted to allow comparisons between France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom. We assessed the LEQ's (i) concurrent validity with a similar instrument (cognitive activities questionnaire - CAQ) and its structural validity by testing the factors' structure across countries, (ii) we investigated its association with cognition and neuroimaging, and (iii) compared its scores between countries. Results: The LEQ showed moderate to strong positive associations with the CAQ and revealed a stable multidimensional structure across countries that was similar to the original LEQ. The LEQ was positively associated with global cognition. Between-country differences were observed in leisure activities across the life-course. Conclusions: The LEQ is a promising tool for assessing the multidimensional construct of cognitive reserve and can be used to measure socio-behavioural determinants of cognitive reserve in older adults across countries. Longitudinal studies are warranted to test further its clinical utility.